CLEVELAND - In a confident trial run of what likely will become his reelection campaign stump speech, President Bush told a conference here yesterday that helping the economy grow and preserving American jobs are his top priorities.
Echoing the proposals of Gov. Bob Taft, whose Third Frontier program is designed to encourage small Ohio high-tech startups, the president said the future of the national economy also rests on new small businesses and technology.
I don't think many people want to trade in their laptop for one of those hunt-and-peck typewriters
he said.
About 1,000 women entrepreneurs were at the Women's Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century Summit - an all-day convention sponsored by the Labor Department that was attended by female small-business owners from across the country.
But Bush's remarks were keyed to an Ohio audience, made especially sensitive to an uncertain economic future and jobs already lost to what he called a recession.
Ohio has lost some 150,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000.
Bush said that while the economy was already showing signs of a downturn in the summer of 2000, the attack of Sept. 11 and corporate corruption scandals caused further damage.
The enemy hurt us he said. But we're plenty tough and determined as a nation.
The president received one of several standing ovations when he repeated his call to Congress to make permanent his tax cuts. The audience agreed with most everything Bush said.
The speech spoke to me said Deborah Rutledge, president of Rutledge Insurance of Cleveland. It was light on theory and heavy on facts. He talked about a lot of situations I could relate to.
Bush shared the podium with Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, who told the audience about the efforts her office was making to increase the number of female-owned small businesses.
The Labor Department awarded $72 million in specialized contracts to female-owned businesses in 2003, she said. Also, the government will spend $500 million the Jobs for the 21st Century Initiative, an administration program designed to train workers for new, high-tech employment.
Bush included several veiled references to his probable Democratic opponent this November, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who he said wanted to build a wall around America
because Kerry has criticized free trade agreements like NAFTA.
Economic isolationism is a recipe for economic disaster
said Bush, who recently negotiated free trade agreements with Morocco and Australia, among other countries.
Besides the economy and job growth, Bush's speech ranged from foreign policy to other domestic issues such as energy and health care. He defended his pre-emptive doctrine in the invasion of Iraq, saying both he and Congress saw a clear threat in their intelligence reports.
I made the choice between trusting the word of a madman and defending the American people
he said. And I'll defend the American people every time.
Kerry, campaigning in Chicago yesterday, has also made the economy a central theme of the race, but differs sharply with the president's plans for recovery, the Associated Press reported.
If I'm president
our government won't provide a single reward for sending our jobs overseas
or exploiting the tax code to go to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes while sticking the American people with the bill
Kerry said.
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