Clinton Vows To Be Engineer Of Change Accepting Nomination, President Says Country Is ‘On The Right Track, But Our Work Is Not Finished’

To thunderous chants of “Four more years! Four more years!” President Clinton offered himself as the engineer of change and optimism for the next century. “We are on the right track,” he declared Thursday night, “but our work is not finished.”

Riding high in the polls and fresh from a triumphant four-day train ride through the Midwest, Clinton dismissed rival Bob Dole’s offer to be a bridge to the past.

“With all due respect, we do not need to build a bridge to the past,” he said, offering a veiled reference to Dole’s 73 years. “We need to build a bridge to the future.”

In a nostalgic twist on his 1992 anthem, “I believe in a place called Hope,” Clinton cued the music and balloons with a single line to end his 66-minute address: “My fellow Americans, I still believe in a place called Hope - and a place called America.”

As thousands of exuberant delegates whooped, loudspeakers burst to life with the band Chicago’s “Only the Beginning.” With that, the fall campaign began.

Declaring that he has reversed “the old politics of Washington,” Clinton said his administration has made college more affordable, streets safer, water and lands less polluted, tax rates lower for middle-class Americans, jobs more plentiful and families more ready to cope with the new millennium.

He said he would not insult or personally criticize Dole, yet he took swipes at the Republican’s budget and tax-cutting plans.

Warning that Dole’s $534 billion tax proposal would balloon the deficit and send interest rates skyrocketing, Clinton said, “We should not bet the farm. And we certainly shouldn’t bet the country.”

As he walked to the podium looming high above the boisterous crowd, a sea of blue and white “Clinton-Gore” pennants waved in the convention hall. The opening ovations rose and fell for several minutes, broken up only by chants of “Four more years!”

Then he spoke the words they had been waiting all week to hear. With a grin, he said: “I don’t know if I can find a fancy way to say this, but … I accept” the Democratic presidential nomination.

There were poignant moments. He praised his brother, Roger, who kicked a cocaine habit years ago. And allowed his voice to crack with emotion, when he spoke lovingly of his mother, Virginia, who died during his term.

He made a single plea for voters to send him Democratic majorities in Congress, a point noticeably absent from Clinton’s speeches as he moved to the political center after the 1994 Republican landslide. “We could have the right kind of balanced budget with a new Congress - a Democratic Congress,” he said.

The speech included a lineup of new plans, making the argument that he is a can-do president with a fresh vision for a new optimism.

“Hope is back in America,” he declared.

His goal was to cast Dole’s agenda as shopworn by comparison.

The new proposals include:

A narrowly focused capital gains tax cut for homeowners, costing about $1.4 billion.

Tax credits and grants to generate jobs in areas heavily populated by welfare recipients. It is a $3.4 billion response to Democratic protests over the welfare overhaul bill he signed.

A $1.75 billion literacy campaign designed to get children reading on their own by the end of third grade.

A $1.9 billion plan to help clean up polluted lands and waters.

Drawing a contrast with Dole’s presidential plans, Clinton said, “The real choice is about whether we will build a bridge to the future or a bridge to the past; about whether we believe our best days are ahead or behind us; about whether we want a country of people working together, or one where you’re on your own.” he said.

With polls indicating Americans crave civility in government, Clinton swore off campaign attacks. “This must be a campaign of ideas,” he said, “Not of insults.”

“I will not attack. I will not attack them personally or permit others to do so,” Clinton said.

He saluted Dole and his running mate, Jack Kemp, for their years of service to the country, but drew sharp difference with the Republicans on their tax and budget plans.

He argued - if only by inference - that Dole’s $548 billion tax cut plan would add to the nation’s debt. By contrast, he said his own balanced budget pays for his more modest tax cut plan “line by line, dime by dime.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SPEECHES AVAILABLE The texts of Bill Clinton’s acceptance speech, other key speeches and the Democratic platform are posted when available on Virtually Northwest, The Spokesman-Review’s on-line service, at http:/ /www.VirtuallyNW.com.