Democrats Assail Bush on Economy and Foreign Policy
Leading Democrats launched a series of stinging attacks on President Bush here today, challenging his handling of the economy, response to corporate accountability scandals and conduct of the war on terrorism while charging there is a "leadership deficit" in Washington that they are prepared to fill.</br></br>The across-the-board critique, including pointed questions about the war in Afghanistan, reflected a growing belief among Democrats that voter anxiety over the economy makes the president and the Republican Party more vulnerable than at any time since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.</br></br>Chiding Republicans for trying to pin the economy's current problems on the "binge" days of the 1990s, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) declared that the prosperity of the previous decade was "not a fluke or a bubble" but the result of sound economic policy. "When it comes to fiscal responsibility and economic growth, this administration is all blame and no game plan, all response and no responsibility," she said at the summer meeting of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council (DLC).</br></br>Democrats sought to place the blame on Bush and his big tax cut for a return to federal budget deficits and a downturn in the economy, claiming that he is presiding over a "jobless recovery" and stock market volatility that has left many Americans worried about their retirement security.</br></br>"The economy is in trouble and there is no economic leadership coming from the White House today," Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) asserted. "It's time for the administration to stop being cheerleaders and start being leaders. But if they won't lead, Democrats will."