In reach for middle ground, Bush echoes Bill Clinton

WASHINGTON -- After a resolute defense of his plan for victory in Iraq and his spying program, President Bush last night delivered a speech that Bill Clinton would have been proud to give, embracing the global economy and emphasizing progressive action.

The echoes of Clinton were no accident: Bush seemed determined to address his own political problems by adopting some of the centrist themes of the 1990s and his own ''compassionate conservative" campaign of 2000.

His calls for new investments in education and social initiatives had an explicitly bipartisan appeal. He dropped last year's demand to privatize part of Social Security and called only for ''bipartisan answers" on entitlement spending.

By explicitly staking out a conciliatory middle ground on domestic issues, Bush was able to take some of the bite off his much more conservative stances on social issues and national security -- stances that were very much in evidence last night and have won him the dogged loyalty of voters on the right. But his overall approval rating remains at or below 40 percent in many polls, and at least half of the speech was aimed at wooing moderates.

''To confront the great issues before us, we must act in a spirit of good will and respect for one another -- and I will do my part," he said early in the speech, in a veiled concession to critics who have found him too divisive.

Bush's vehicle for domestic unity is the same one identified by Clinton in the early '90s -- the need for America to keep everyone well educated and trained in order for the United States to compete in the global economy.

''We will choose to build our prosperity by leading the world economy -- or shut ourselves off from trade and opportunity," Bush declared. ''In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting -- yet it ends in danger and decline."

Bush also renewed his proposal for a guest-worker program to ease illegal immigration along the border with Mexico, knowing that most of its critics are among his own supporters on the right. He avoided the fact that such a program might also help illegal workers remain in the country, saying only that it ''allows temporary jobs for people who seek them legally."

While his rhetoric was carefully couched, Bush's speech last night represented his first major attempt to fuse his vision of an activist foreign policy, seeking to topple tyrants and promote democracy, with an economic program that recognizes the importance of international trade and leadership.

Such a move will inevitably risk some anger in his conservative ''base," which is skeptical of immigration and concerned that moves to embrace the international economy could weaken American hegemony. But Bush has never fully embraced the conservative line on domestic issues, except tax cuts. And while his willingness to use the military in the war on terrorism has been applauded by the right, his idealistic desire to defeat terrorism by offering ''the hopeful alternative of political freedom and peaceful change," as he put it last night, is met with far more skepticism.

Last night, on the domestic front at least, Bush seemed to accept the risk of alienating some conservatives in hopes of peeling off more moderate supporters.

Bush offered an energy plan straight from the Democratic playbook, albeit with his own recipe for alternative-fuel granola: ''We will also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but from wood chips, stalks, or switch grass."

There was even an expression of kinship with Bill Clinton himself.

''This year, the first of about 78 million baby boomers turn 60, including two of my dad's favorite people -- me and President Bill Clinton," Bush quipped.

The audience on both sides of the aisle laughed and smiled, just as Bush clearly intended.