Vice President Crafting Speech on ‘Clear, Stark’ Contrasts

Vice President Al Gore, seeking to change the focus of the presidential campaign from personalities to issues, says he plans to use his acceptance speech Thursday to give voters a “clear, stark . . . [and] specific” contrast between his positions and those of Republican nominee George W. Bush.

In an interview between campaign appearances and private bouts of speech-polishing on his laptop computer, Gore said his main themes will include Social Security and tax cuts, issues on which the two major candidates differ sharply.

In short, the vice president’s acceptance speech, the most important of his 25-year political career, will try to address the conundrum that has bedeviled Democratic strategists all year: Many swing voters agree with Gore on the issues yet seem drawn to Bush as a more appealing leader.

“I think that this campaign is an opportunity to make some clear choices about what we’re going to do for the next four years,” Gore said.

“I will offer specifics . . . putting it in clear, stark terms and showing the effect on working families, in comparison to the effect of my opponent’s proposals.”

By hammering at the details of Social Security and tax cuts, Gore indicated that he hopes to prod Bush into a more explicit debate about them.

“I rather doubt that my opponent can make it to the end of the campaign without answering questions about where this trillion dollars for privatization will come from, and other questions of that sort,” Gore said, referring to Bush’s proposal to allow workers to invest some of their Social Security tax payments in individual accounts.

Public opinion polls, including a Times Poll released today, show that most voters agree with Democratic positions on Social Security and taxes. But a substantial percentage of those who agree are inclined to vote for Bush.

Gore has said he also hopes to use the speech to establish himself in voters’ eyes as a confident leader in his own right, not just “a vice president” in the shadow of President Clinton. Nevertheless, his speech (estimated length 45 minutes but still unfinished) borrows at least one feature from Clinton’s rhetorical successes over the last eight years.

“Think of this as like those long Clinton State of the Union speeches with lots of specific proposals,” Gore spokesman Chris Lehane said. “The pundits panned them. But the people loved them.”

‘Straight From My Heart’

In a 35-minute talk in the back seat of his White House limousine en route to his hotel Sunday night, Gore offered a limited sneak preview of his speech, promising plenty of specifics but giving none away.

Asked if he plans to unveil new proposals, he replied elliptically: “You’ll see a lot of freshness.”

In addition to Social Security and tax policy, he said the speech will touch on Medicare, education, the environment and quality-of-life issues, among other topics.

“I hope people enjoy it,” he said. “I think that they will find it different. It’s highly personal in parts, because I am writing it, and what they hear will be straight from my heart. And some people may not like it. That’s fine. But I hope that most will.”

He said he is determined to keep the speech “positive,” with “no negative personal attacks” on Bush--even as he criticizes the Republican’s positions on the issues.

“I think that when you hear the speech, you will consider it to be somewhat unusual in its determinedly positive tone, its relative lack of any mention of the opposition,” he said. “There will be some, but only in the context of issues.”

When asked if he believes Bush stepped across the line into personal invective in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia two weeks ago, Gore nodded and said: “I was surprised--genuinely surprised--I guess because I believed the pre-convention promises that they wouldn’t stoop to that.”

If voters compare his speech to Bush’s, “side by side, they will definitely see a different tone,” Gore said. “Definitely.”

The vice president pronounced his decision to talk about policy specifics “a risk.”

Most candidates “don’t want to be pinned down, and it’s easier to be all things to all people if you’re not specific,” he said. “I think people are kind of tired of that approach, myself. And I hope that I’m proven right. But that’s why it’s a risk.

“It’s a risky speech scheme,” he joked, slyly mocking--as Bush did in his acceptance speech two weeks ago--his own frequent references to what he calls the GOP’s “risky tax scheme.”

But asked whether he considers himself a risk-taker, Gore paused for 11 seconds of wary silence--and then gave an answer suffused with his habitual caution.

“I’m pausing on this answer because I don’t want to risk a mistake,” he said wryly. “I think that if you don’t make some mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough. You’ve got to try new things in public policy in order to push the boundaries of what works. But I think the risks you take should be reasonable and considered.”

Social Security and tax policy are two core issues on which Gore has sought all summer to gain Americans’ attention, without clear success.

Bush has proposed broad-based tax cuts amounting to an estimated $1 trillion over 10 years as the fiscal centerpiece of his campaign. Gore has proposed smaller but still significant tax cuts for specific purposes, such as college expenses for middle-income families.

On Social Security, Bush has proposed allowing younger workers to divert some of their payroll taxes into individual investment accounts, although he has not spelled out the details of the plan. Gore charges that this proposal would siphon billions of dollars out of the Social Security trust fund, endangering its solvency.

By contrast, Gore has said he would devote the largest portion of the federal budget surplus to pay down the national debt. He says the resulting savings would extend the solvency of the Social Security trust fund to 2050. He has proposed a more limited form of individual retirement accounts based on workers’ contributions that the government would match on a sliding scale to favor low-income citizens.

As for voters’ focus on personality--and the perception of some that Gore is either personally unappealing or given to pandering--the vice president sounded weary and fatalistic.

“When the other side spends $100 million promoting that idea, they’ll get some takers,” he said. “I’ll just present myself as I am, and the people can react as they will.

“People vote for a president for a variety of reasons, including what kind of person they think he is,” he said. “ . . . A person is evaluated as a way of guessing what kinds of decisions that person will make on important issues. It’s not a process that’s ever been figured out by political scientists because it’s always changing and it’s a human process. I can’t give you a precise definition. Nobody can.”

On other issues, Gore said neither he nor his running mate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), believe that government action is warranted to curb violence or misogyny in popular entertainment.

“I am not a fan of government action in this area,” Gore said. “Neither is Sen. Lieberman. Voluntary self-restraint is the best approach. And the empowerment of parents with the V-chip can make a big difference if that approach can be made to work more effectively than it does now. I predict that it will work much more effectively over time. . . . But I will never support any kind of government censorship--period.”

He said he does not believe that his selection of Lieberman, a longtime critic of the entertainment industry, will strain his party’s relationship with Hollywood. “I think the reaction has been really positive and good.”

When asked about Lieberman’s position favoring federally funded vouchers that parents could use to pay for either public or private school expenses, Gore said he would listen to his running mate’s views--but won’t change his own mind under any circumstances. “I’m opposed to vouchers. But I welcome dissent in private within the White House.”

On whether GOP vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney has created a conflict of interest by accepting a $20-million retirement package from Halliburton Inc., the oil services firm he led before joining the ticket, Gore sought to stay above the fray--but cheerfully quoted his own running mate.

“I just don’t know enough about it to comment. I think that Sen. Lieberman said this morning that it raises questions why they don’t support an increase in minimum wage,” he said.

Reaction to Bush’s Comment

Gore reacted sharply, however, to Bush’s comment in an interview with The Times published Sunday that the GOP candidate opposes continuing the Clinton administration program to fund 100,000 police officer jobs across the nation, a program Gore has proposed expanding by 50,000.

“I was very surprised by that statement,” Gore said. “. . . I would urge Gov. Bush to reconsider his opinion because the COPS program has been one of the keys to bringing the crime rate down for so many years in a row. And it really doesn’t make much sense to put more guns on the street and take more cops off the street, in my admittedly biased opinion.”

Asked whether he still considers Clinton one of the greatest presidents in history, as he said after the Senate impeachment trial of Clinton in 1999, and whether he would pay that tribute to Clinton in his speech, Gore was terse.

“I will talk about the achievements of the last eight years,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Platform Highlights

Here is a summary of major elements of the Democratic platform, set to be approved by the convention today:

FISCAL POLICY: Calls for a balanced federal budget every year and eliminating the publicly held national debt in 12 years.

“We must continue the fiscal discipline that has been the hallmark of the past eight years.”

*

TAX POLICY: Calls for targeted tax cuts, including elimination of the marriage penalty for middle-class families, tax breaks to help people save for college and a permanent extension of the research and development tax credit.

“The . . . tax-slash [proposed by Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush] takes a different course. . . . It would let the richest 1% of Americans afford a new sports car and middle-class Americans afford a warm soda.”

*

IMMIGRATION: Says any increase in H-1B visas for high-tech workers must be temporary and be allowed only to address genuine labor shortages.

“We must punish employers who engage in a pattern and practice of recruiting undocumented workers in order to intimidate and exploit them.”

*

EDUCATION: Seeks to increase teacher quality by requiring educators to pass a “rigorous and fair test” before teaching and submit to regular evaluations to determine whether a teacher’s license should be removed.

“At its best, teaching is the job of a lifetime. But teaching contracts and licenses should not be an automatic lifetime job guarantee.”

*

ABORTION: Supports the right of every woman to choose to have an abortion--regardless of her ability to pay.

“This year’s Supreme Court rulings show to us that eliminating a woman’s right to choose is only one justice away. That’s why the stakes in this election are as high as ever.”

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CULTURE: Calls on the entertainment industry to reevaluate and more strictly enforce movie ratings and review the use of violence in its own advertising.

“The entertainment industry must accept more responsibility and exercise more self-restraint.”

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GAY RIGHTS: Supports equitable employment benefits for gay couples.

“We support the full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of the nation.”

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TRADE: Asserts that trade has been an important part of the booming economy, but that all future trade agreements should contain environmental, labor and human rights protections.

“It’s clear we live in a globalized world--and that there is no turning back. But globalization is neither good nor evil. It is a fact--and we have to deal with it.”

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HEALTH CARE: Calls for establishing a prescription-drug benefit under Medicare and a “patients’ bill of rights” to impose new regulations on health maintenance organizations.

“We reaffirm our commitment to take concrete, specific, realistic steps to move toward the day when every American has affordable health coverage.”

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Supports the death penalty, but calls for DNA testing and assurances that defendants have adequate counsel. Calls for an end to racial profiling.

“In all death row cases, we encourage thorough post-conviction reviews.”

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DEFENSE: Supports development of technology for a limited missile defense system and increasing military pay.

“With Bill Clinton and Al Gore in the White House, Democrats reversed a decline in defense spending that began under President Bush.”