Bush: Use Prosperity for ‘Great Goals’

George W. Bush, the Texas governor who built a national political juggernaut, accepted the Republican presidential nomination Thursday and pledged to take advantage of prosperity to tackle the nation’s toughest problems.

“We will seize this moment of American promise. We will use these good times for great goals,” he said.

Speaking to cheering delegates at the Republican National Convention, Bush said he wants to forge a conservative but activist presidency and use it to reform Social Security, improve the nation’s schools, strengthen defense and extend the benefits of a strong economy to the nation’s poor.

“Big government is not the answer,” he said. “But the alternative to bureaucracy is not indifference. It is to put conservative values and conservative ideas into the thick of the fight for justice and opportunity.

“This is what I mean by compassionate conservatism,” the 54-year-old governor said, invoking his political slogan.

In a 52-minute speech that began with a homey tribute to his parents and rose to points of unwonted eloquence, Bush cited both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, the 20th century’s Democratic and Republican icons, as he described a fusion of liberal goals and conservative means.

And without saying so, he echoed his father, who in his own 1988 acceptance speech called for “prosperity with a purpose.”

“This is a remarkable moment in the life of our nation. Never has the promise of prosperity been so vivid,” the younger Bush said. “But times of plenty, like times of crisis, are tests of American character. Prosperity can be a tool in our hands--used to build and better our country. Or it can be a drug in our system--dulling our sense of urgency, of empathy, of duty.”

He said he would confront difficult issues, including national security threats, health care and retirement, before they “become crises for our children.”

And in a swipe at both Democrats and Republicans caught up in the furious congressional battles of the last six years--culminating in the 1998 impeachment of President Clinton--Bush said he would turn his back on those quarrels.

“I have no stake in the bitter arguments of the last few years,” he said. “I want to change the tone of Washington to one of civility and respect.”

Despite that bipartisan wish, Bush did not spare the Clinton administration or his all-but-nominated Democratic opponent, Vice President Al Gore. He accused them of squandering opportunities for leadership he suggested his presidency would not waste.

“For eight years, the Clinton-Gore administration has coasted through prosperity. The path of least resistance is always downhill,” Bush said.

Of Clinton, he said acidly: “So many talents. So much charm. Such great skill. But, in the end, to what end? So much promise, to no great purpose.

“This administration had its chance. They have not led. We will,” Bush said, provoking a roar of approval from delegates.

The speech, Bush’s first formal address to a wide national audience, was a critical test for the Republican candidate, who was unknown to most voters outside Texas when he began his run for the presidency.

Bush aides and Republican strategists said the candidate’s most important task was convincing undecided voters that, after only six years in public office, he has the stature and experience to make a good president.

Bush addressed the point directly, saying: “As governor, I’ve made difficult decisions and stood by them under pressure. I’ve been where the buck stops. . . . I’ve been a chief executive.”

And he laid out the arguments he will use to seek the votes of independent voters in the middle of the political spectrum.

Instead of castigating liberals, Bush declared: “We are now the party of ideas and innovation--the party of idealism and inclusion.” He even offered a modest embrace to the protest movements of the 1970s and 1980s, crediting them with contributing to progress on women’s issues, race relations and the environment.

By couching his attacks on the Clinton-Gore administration in terms of failures to seize opportunities, Bush appeared to be telling moderates that he shares their goals but has different approaches to reach them.

Democrats responded Thursday by charging that Bush may offer lofty, centrist goals, but as governor of Texas his actions have added up to old-fashioned conservatism.

The Gore campaign issued a statement dismissing Bush’s speech as “short on length, short on substance and short on real ideas for working families.”

Bush “does not want to talk about his record in Texas or his running mate’s record in Congress,” the statement said. “He offered up only the tired old Republican formula of personal attacks, vague phrases and rehashed platitudes.”

Within the convention hall, though, Bush, who has not always been a magnetic speaker, touched off roars of adulation from the 20,000 delegates and guests.

On this night, there were no “Bushisms,” the jumbled syllables or mangled foreign names that have often bemused Bush’s audiences in the past.

Still, the candidate--whose preferred format is unscripted, arm-waving informality--sometimes appeared tense, standing almost motionless, his hands clasped together on the lectern. His delivery was forceful but sometimes wooden.

He praised Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), once his bitter rival for this nomination, who this week persuaded almost all of his own delegates to vote for Bush and preserve the convention’s sheen of unanimity.

He greeted his mother, Barbara Bush: “She gave me love and lots of advice; I gave her white hair.”

And he saluted his father, the 41st president of the United States, “the most decent man I have ever known, the last president of a great generation.”

But the largest part of the speech was a systematic exposition of the core proposals Bush has been offering for more than a year: sweeping tax cuts, partial privatization of Social Security, more money coupled with more rigorous standards for public education and more military spending coupled with greater caution in deploying troops overseas.

“Social Security has been called the ‘third rail of American politics,’ the one you’re not supposed to touch because it shocks you,” he said. “But if you don’t touch it, you can’t fix it.”

To senior citizens already receiving Social Security pensions, he promised: “No changes, no reductions, no way,” and charged the Democrats with using “the politics of fear” to claim otherwise.

But he repeated his proposal that younger workers be allowed to deposit some part of their Social Security taxes in individual accounts, saying it would bring higher returns and transform the system.

“When this money is in your name, in your account, it’s not just a program, it’s your property,” he said.

He listed a series of domestic programs he said he wants to reform: health care, by giving the poor tax credits to enable them to buy private health insurance; low-income housing, by refocusing current rental-subsidy programs on ownership; and welfare, which he wants to place in the hands of religious and other private charities.

“Government cannot do this work,” he said. “. . . Yet government can take the side of these groups, helping the helper.”

The candidate’s centrist positions on these issues left the largely conservative delegates momentarily subdued. But he brought them back to their feet with a strong, clear restatement of GOP orthodoxy on the hot-button issue of abortion, promising to value “the life of the unborn.”

“Good people can disagree on this issue,” he said. “But . . . when Congress sends me a bill against ‘partial-birth’ abortion, I will sign it into law.”

Indeed, before the audience inside the First Union Center, Bush’s biggest applause lines were the most partisan ones: his anti-abortion pledge, promises of big tax cuts and jabs at Clinton and Gore.

Republican leaders reacted with lavish praise.

“He talked about everything in a way that does not alienate,” said former Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), who sat with Bush’s parents in the hall. “I’m pro-choice. I’ve been at conventions where I’ve been called a baby killer. Those days are gone.”

Cliff Zukin, a political scientist at Rutgers University, also said he believed Bush accomplished his main aim of appearing presidential and prepared for the office.

“He was able to sound themes of inclusiveness and appeal to independents and Democrats as well as Republicans,” Zukin said.

Joining Bush on the stage for photographs were his family, a vast number of Republican grandees--plus McCain. Bush campaign officials had initially decided to keep McCain offstage, apparently fearing he might steal the scene, so McCain took a train to Washington on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, though, after the snub was reported, Bush asked the senator to return.

As the convention’s four-day “rolling roll call” came to its suspense-free end, California’s 162 votes were cast, fittingly, by Brad Freeman, a Los Angeles financier who was one of the leaders of Bush’s record-breaking fund-raising effort.

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Times staff writers Mark Z. Barabak, Richard T. Cooper, Janet Hook and Maria L. La Ganga contributed to this story.

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Additional coverage of the Republican convention is available on The Times’ Web site, including the full text of George W. Bush’s acceptance speech, a delegate’s video diary, photo galleries and more. Go to:

https://www.latimes.com/gopconvention