Clinton rips GOP on economy

Tuesday, April 15, 2003 | 11:19 a.m.

After the 2000 presidential campaign, some observers questioned whether it had been a good strategy for the Democrats to keep a scandal-beset Bill Clinton out of the picture, passing on his oratory skills and popularity.

The former president gave some supporters in Las Vegas hope Monday that perhaps he may play a role in helping a member of his party recapture the presidency in 2004.

In an often emotional 30-minute speech before 4,000 representatives of the Laborers' International Union of North America at Bally's, Clinton attacked the Republicans' perceived weakness -- the sluggish economy -- while urging support for U.S. troops in Iraq and their commander-in-chief, President Bush.

Clinton accused the GOP of running the government from a position of "anger and ideology," abandoning "evidence and argument" to support their actions, which included tax cuts that helped mostly the wealthy.

Clinton accused the Republicans of digging themselves into a hole on the economic front by squandering a $5.8 trillion federal budget surplus he helped build and creating a projected $2 trillion deficit.

"When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging," Clinton said, noting that the Republicans just passed legislation to rebuild Iraq potentially at the cost of laying off U.S. teachers and cutting after-school programs. He said he supports rebuilding Iraq but not at that cost.

"The conservative Republicans blame me for everything bad that has happened since I left office and give me no credit for anything good that happened while I was in office," he said, arguing that his administration created 50 percent more jobs in the 1990s than the Republicans did in the 1980s.

"If you want to be here 100 years from now, reverse this wrong course," Clinton told the union, which is celebrating its centennial anniversary this week.

A number of conventioneers filing out after Clinton's speech said they were impressed and believe the public will hear more from the former president in 2004.

"He said what had to be said," said Greg Pauly, a construction laborer from Flint, Mich. "I believe he will play a role in the next election."

Former Nevada Treasurer and ex-state Republican Chairman Bob Seale, who now is a money manager for local governments, did not attend Clinton's speech.

"It's not over yet," Seale said. "We are beginning to see a stabilizing of the economy. When the war is over President Bush will concentrate on domestic issues."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who also spoke at the convention Monday, was critical of the $75 billion allocated primarily to pay for the war and rebuild Iraq. He said such money, according to the World Policy Institute, could hire 1 million U.S. elementary schoolteachers.

"Now we have come full circle," Jackson said. "We have money to bomb bridges in Iraq but not to build bridges in Chicago. We have money for smart missiles, but not enough money for the teachers and schools needed for smart children."