U.S. Is on Risky Road, Dole Warns

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — In a wide-ranging address seeking to define his “profound and fundamental” differences with President Clinton, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole said Friday that America is headed down “the dangerous road of weakness and stagnation” and offered himself as the leader who could reverse that course.

“We stand for less government, lower taxes, flatter taxes, more freedom and a strong, proud America at home and abroad,” the Senate majority leader told a Republican dinner at Hofstra University in New York’s Nassau County, a GOP stronghold.

Making the type of foray outside Washington that many GOP advisors have been urging in the face of polls showing Clinton far ahead, Dole said he would balance the federal budget by cutting government and reducing taxes, which he said would generate more growth.

He accused Clinton of political deception, saying the president’s record is one of “talk right, run left.”

Dole said: “My administration will not just talk the talk. It will walk the walk.”

In a departure from custom, Dole spoke from a prepared text that aides distributed to reporters well in advance of the actual speech--a sign that his campaign regarded the address as a defining moment in his quest for the White House.

And in a seeming response to critics--both inside and outside the GOP--who have berated him for failing to spell out his “vision,” Dole enunciated a series of reasons why “I want to be president.” They included his desire to “return integrity to our government,” “restore the vigor of the American economy,” and “restore an instinct for decency to our national life and our culture.”

His remarks featured a harsh, extended critique of Clinton’s foreign policy. As part of that, Dole struck a personal note clearly intended to contrast his own World War II service--which left him permanently disabled--with a man who worked hard to avoid conscription during the Vietnam War.

“I’ve seen enough of war to know you don’t take chances with America’s security,” Dole said. “In my administration, America will once again follow Ronald Reagan’s policy of peace through strength.”

Specifically, he called for a missile defense of the sort that Presidents Reagan and Bush had unsuccessfully sought.

“In my administration, we will have it,” Dole said.

“Anyone who says we don’t need a missile defense because there is no immediate nuclear threat is like someone saying he doesn’t need an umbrella because it is not raining right now,” he said. “If a missile defense is necessary for Tel Aviv--and I certainly believe it is--it is equally necessary for America.”

Dole chastised Clinton for his “indecision about defending a democratic ally like Taiwan against Chinese aggression,” and for allowing Iran, “of all nations,” to play a role in U.S. foreign policy--a reference to recent revelations by The Times that the administration gave a green light to covert Iranian arms shipments to Bosnia.

These actions, Dole said, have “telegraphed indecision and weakness to the world.”

On economic issues, Dole said he would introduce legislation in the Senate on Tuesday to repeal the 4.3-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax imposed in 1993. The move marks Dole’s response to public anger over sudden increases in gasoline prices.

Dole scoffed at efforts by Clinton to point with pride to the nation’s leading economic indicators, including the report this week that the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8% in the year’s first quarter, a larger increase than expected.

Although a balky economy set the stage for Clinton’s election four years ago, Dole noted that when the former Arkansas governor took office, growth was again brisk. “Now we’re lucky if it hits a fast crawl. America can do better.”

Dole also blasted Clinton for vetoing several measures that Dole helped shepherd through Congress, including the GOP’s seven-year balanced-budget plan, welfare reform and product-liability reform.

These were examples, Dole said, that Clinton has “talked conservatively while walking knee-deep in the swamps of liberalism.”

Before making his speech, Dole distanced himself from remarks by Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.), who said Dole’s campaign was being hurt by the unpopularity of House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). Dole said he disagreed with D’Amato.

Nonetheless, D’Amato, a Dole loyalist and senior campaign official, flew to the Long Island event with the candidate.

Even before his New York speech, Dole on Friday unveiled another gambit in his bid to energize his campaign, announcing in Washington that the Senate will vote next week on a constitutional amendment aimed at balancing the budget, a GOP initiative that went down to a bitter, one-vote defeat 14 months ago.

This time, however, it may pass--if Dole is correct in predicting that the Republican majority will now agree to a provision sought by Democrats.

Many Democrats voted against the amendment last year because it did not contain a provision barring the government from counting surplus money in the Social Security Trust Fund as an offset against the budget deficit.

Dole suggested that such a guarantee was achievable. “I think there are ways to add a provision to the balanced-budget amendment that will ensure that Social Security surpluses can never again be used to mask deficit spending,” Dole said in remarks on the Senate floor.

Dole said he has named three GOP colleagues--Sens. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, Larry E. Craig of Idaho and Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico--to try to work out a mutually satisfactory arrangement with Senate Democrats.

In March 1995, all but one of the Senate’s 53 Republicans--Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon was the exception--voted for the amendment, along with 14 of 47 Democrats. But that was still one vote shy of the two-thirds vote required in each house of Congress to approve a constitutional amendment.

At the time, by all accounts, the measure could have garnered 70 votes or more but for the refusal of Republicans to add language explicitly barring the use of the trust-fund surplus to help reduce the deficit--the bottom line demand of a handful of Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.

On another issue, Dole on Friday predicted that Congress will raise the minimum wage, despite intense opposition from the party’s more conservative legislators.

“I would guess, if I had to guess, that there probably will be an increase in the minimum wage,” Dole said in an interview on the “NBC Nightly News.” “Maybe not what the Democrats are talking about, but some increase.”

Congressional Democrats and the White House have been seeking to raise the minimum wage from $4.25 an hour to $5.15 over two years. Dole has maneuvered thus far to deny them a vote.