George W. Bush Vows 'New Beginning'

P H I L A D E L P H I A, Aug. 4, 2000 -- Texas Gov. George Bush wrapped up the GOP convention Thursday night pledging that he and his party were ready to take over the nation’s leadership from Democrats who had squandered their chance to lead.

Just one night after running mate Dick Cheney charged up the Republican National Convention with a speech that took jabs at the Clinton administration, Bush echoed Cheney’s themes, accepting the party’s nomination and telling delegates in the hall and a national television audience, “My fellow citizens, we can begin again.

“Our current president embodied the potential of a generation. So many talents. So much charm. Such great skill,” Bush said. “But in the end, to what end? So much promise, to no great purpose.”

The Texas governor set out with this tightly scripted convention to make the case that he embodies just such purpose. In the biggest speech of his life, Bush needed to quiet concerns about his lack of experience, and prove that he has what it takes to lead the nation.

“As governor, I’ve made difficult decisions, and stood by them under pressure,” Bush said. “I’ve been where the buck stops — in business and in government. I’ve been a chief executive who sets an agenda, sets big goals, and rallies people to believe and achieve them.I am proud of this record, and I’m prepared for the work ahead.”

Political Jujitsu

Bush also moved to capitalize on concerns that his limited experience — having served only two terms as governor in Texas — is more an asset than a liability. Acknowledging that his resume “may lack the polish of Washington,” Bush boasted that he also does not have “a lot of things that come with Washington experience.”

“I don’t have enemies to fight. And I have no stake in the bitter arguments of the last four years,” Bush said. “I want to change the tone of Washington to one of civility and respect.”

A somewhat more complicated task for Bush was trying to hang the negative aspects of Bill Clinton’s legacy on Al Gore, the Democratic presidential candidate, while making the case that the vice president does not, by the same logic, deserve credit for presiding over a booming economy. Dovetailing on Cheney’s theme of opportunities squandered by the current occupant of the White House, Bush made the case that Clinton and Gore had merely “coasted through prosperity” while doing little else with their time in office.

“This administration had its moment,” Bush said. “They had their chance. They have not led. We will.”

Bush also moved to address concerns that this week’s convention has been more style than substance by issuing what advisers billed as a “call to action” on problems the Clinton administration has failed to solve. Given the chance to lead, Bush said, he would cut taxes, fix Social Security and Medicare and rebuild the military.

Responding to Gore’s relentless attempts to cast him as the “risky” candidate, Bush savaged the vice president with lines that drew roars from the crowd.

“Every one of the proposals I’ve talked about tonight, he has called a ‘risky scheme,’ over and over again,” Bush said. “If my opponent had been there at the moon launch, it would have been a ‘risky rocket scheme.’ If he’d been there when Edison was testing the light bulb, it would have been a ‘risky anti-candle scheme.’”

Bush also broke tradition from previous nights of the convention and addressed an issue directly concerning his party’s conservatives.

“ …Most of all, we must teach our children thevalues that defeat violence. I will lead our nation toward aculture that values life — the life of the elderly and sick,the life of the young and the life of the unborn.

“Good people can disagree on this issue, but surely we canagree on ways to value life by promoting adoption, parentalnotification. And when Congress sends me a bill againstpartial-birth abortion, I will sign it into law.”

That line drew some of the loudest cheers of the night.

Bush had begun working on the speech, which ultimately went through at least 17 drafts, for four months. After a meeting in May, speechwriter Michael Gerson holed up for two weeks in Texas A&M University writing the first versions. With the speech out of the way, and having captured his party’s nomination, Bush now faces a three-month sprint to Election Day, which he acknowledged will be “tough” and “down to the wire.”

“Their attacks will be relentless, but they will be answered,” Bush said. “We are facing something familiar, but they are facing something new. We are now the party of ideas and innovation. The party of idealism and inclusion.”

On the convention floor, at least, the speech was viewed as a wild success.

“If this doesn’t give him a convention bounce, I don’t know what does,” said Rep. Jim Rogan, a California congressman who served as one of the architects of President Clinton’s impeachment.

“I liked that he made the point over and over again that he’s the candidate of integrity and the one that can be trusted — and the American people are ready for a change,” said Trent LeDoux, 26, a delegate from Holton, Kan.

Republicans had re-engineered the concept of the political convention this year, building a slick, four-night television advertisement for their party aimed at luring women, independent voters and minorities to their banner. One of the most promising new faces of the GOP, another George Bush, also gave a speech last night. The candidate’s 24-year-old Mexican-American nephew, George P. Bush, appealed to voters in both English and Spanish on behalf of his uncle.

“Now is the time to end the cynicism and the fussing and fighting in Washington,” he said.

The final night of the Republican convention was a star-studded affair. Film icon Bo Derek took the stage to say a prayer for former President Gerald Ford, who is recovering from a stroke in a Philadelphia hospital. She then introduced California Assemblyman Abel Maldonado, who delivered what convention planners billed as the first-ever convention speech given entirely in Spanish.

Carter M. Yang contributed to this report.