Bush, Kerry both optimistic about economy

COLUMBUS, Ohio – With the death of Ronald Reagan and a week of public commemorations still fresh in the public consciousness, both President Bush and Democratic challenger John F. Kerry laid claim Tuesday to a Reagan-esque mantle of optimism about the U.S. economy.

But the two men defined their optimism in strikingly divergent ways.

Bush, speaking at a news conference in the White House Rose Garden, said he is an optimist because he sees his policies – in particular, income-tax cuts – already making things better. Kerry, however, told reporters at an airport outside Cincinnati that he is “an optimist about America,” because “I think we can do better.”

The president used relatively recent economic indicators to frame his rosier view – 1.4 million jobs added since last August, consumer spending up and, as he said, “vibrancy of the small-business sector.” Kerry, in contrast, recited much bleaker news – a net of about 2 million jobs lost, decreasing buying power for many workers and increased health care costs.

Neither candidate offered new proposals Tuesday, both recasting previous statements about the country’s direction.

Advisers to both sides expect the public’s view of the economy to be critical in determining whether Bush wins a second term on Nov. 2.

The recovering but still uneven economy presents a “classic challenge” for both Bush and the Massachusetts senator, said Democratic political consultant David Axelrod. The two candidates want to show empathy for the current condition of Americans and hope for the future.

“There is a trap for Kerry in that he doesn’t want to be pegged as pessimistic and negative,” Axelrod said. “But there is a trap for Bush in that he doesn’t want to look oblivious to people’s real pain.”

Bush’s Rose Garden remarks came during a news conference with Afghan President Hamad Karzai.

Asked whether he was concerned about America’s economic vitality, the president said he was not and that he saw it as “strong and getting stronger.”

“I am an optimistic person,” Bush said. “I guess if you want to try to find something to be pessimistic about, you can find it, no matter how hard you look, you know?”

He said progress is being made despite “a recession, a national emergency, corporate scandals (and) a war.”

Bush was responding to a reporter’s query, mindful that Kerry plans to continue his focus on the economy. On Monday, the presumptive Democratic nominee revived his argument that the American middle class is getting squeezed, and that Bush should be held accountable.

Although the “ingredients” for continued economic growth are in place, more needs to be done, Bush said. He said he wants to push an energy policy through Congress, cap litigation costs that hurt companies and reform health-care policy.

Reminded by a reporter that his father failed to win a second term in the 1992 election, when the public viewed the economy skeptically, the president said he expects voters this year to recognize that he has been a strong leader.

He said his leadership was proven by pushing through tax cuts – encouraging “the entrepreneurial spirit to flourish by letting people keep more of their own money.”

When asked about Bush’s comments later in the day, Kerry said changes are needed to improve the standard of living for middle-class Americans. He repeated his call to rescind Bush’s tax cut for those making more than $200,000 a year.

The money recouped by the federal government, the senator said, would help provide health care, education and other programs that have been cut under Bush.

Earlier in the day, Kerry told several hundred labor activists at an AFL-CIO convention in Atlantic City, N.J., that Bush had pushed through the tax breaks and allowed the federal budget deficit to skyrocket, while reducing government support for Head Start, veteran’s health care and police and fire departments.

“If you think that’s compassionate conservatism, then Dick Cheney is Mr. Rogers,” Kerry told the enthusiastic crowd, which gave him multiple standing ovations. The creation of new jobs in recent months belies the worsening conditions that most Americans live in, Kerry said. He claimed that jobs today pay an average of $9,000 less annually and that household income is disappearing because of 50 percent increases in health care, 35 percent jumps in college tuitions and other increased household expenses. Besides the rollback of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, Kerry has proposed tax credits for businesses that create jobs and the cancellation of tax breaks for some companies that move jobs overseas.