Tonight’s State of Union Address Pivotal : Presidency: Bush hopes it will help restore his stature and convince the nation he has a plan to end its economic trauma.

WASHINGTON —  Facing a pivotal moment in his presidency, George Bush will deliver a State of the Union address tonight that will seek both to help restore his political stature and to convince an increasingly skeptical nation that he has a plan to end its economic trauma.

“We clearly lost control of the national debate, through inattention,” said a presidential adviser, expressing the now commonly held concern among Republicans that Bush has failed to demonstrate leadership in fighting the economic recession.

With that acknowledgment, advisers inside and outside the White House say that the President’s job, beginning with tonight’s nationally televised address to Congress at 6 p.m., is to demonstrate that he comprehends the pain of the recession and has a growth package to overcome it.

The future of his presidency and his prospects for reelection could hang in the balance. As Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) put it, tonight’s speech “may be the political Super Bowl.”

One year after his popularity soared to unprecedented levels with the success of the Persian Gulf War, Bush’s approval rating has dropped to about 45%, depending on the survey measuring it.

He also faces a challenge for the Republican presidential nomination from conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan.

The President himself has raised expectations for the speech to unusual levels, fending off questions since December about his economic recovery plan by saying that his answers would be contained in this address to the nation.

The President has three objectives: to demonstrate command of the economic problem, to present a domestic agenda for the coming election year and--in the words of one adviser--to “remind people overall that this has been a pretty successful and competent presidency, the recession notwithstanding.”

“The basic task here is to lay out a plan for economic recovery, economic growth and put it in common-sense terms so he can begin to develop public support,” said Charles Black, a senior adviser to the Bush/Quayle reelection team.

In preparation for the event, the President met Monday with Republican congressional leaders, trying to generate unified support for his proposals.

After weeks of debate among advisers, Bush decided to deliver an address that a White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said would be “kinder and gentler” in tone, rather than “a rabble-rouser, barn-burner.”

“The tenor is an appeal to bipartisanship, with a willingness to fight if he doesn’t get bipartisanship,” the official said, indicating that Bush sides with those on his team who have recommended that he avoid a direct confrontation with the Democrats who control the House and Senate.

“A lot of the purpose is to be presidential, to close the stature-gap and be President of all the people,” he said, referring to mounting complaints that Bush has paid too much attention to foreign affairs, while ignoring the nation’s economic woes.

“No doubt he’s going to attempt to communicate to the public the reality that the economy has flattened out and that flattening has lasted far longer than any of the experts predicted; but the numbers coming up will be positive,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands), chairman of the Republican conference and third-ranking GOP leader in the House.

Hoping to focus attention on the broad themes of the speech, Bush, Cabinet members and other senior officials have made public over the last week some of the details that will be unveiled in his federal budget proposal.

The spending plan will be announced Wednesday for fiscal year 1993, which begins Oct. 1.

Among the elements expected to be included in the budget are proposals for middle-class income tax relief, a $600-million increase in Head Start funding, a repeal of the luxury tax on yachts, a budget of $873 million for AIDS research, a doubling of the current $33-million federal spending to control tuberculosis and a new public housing initiative.

Bush also wants to boost spending for a manned space station and to double money for programs to clean up pollution along the Mexican border.

Focusing his attention in coming weeks on two issues that have become central themes in the presidential election campaign--the economy and health care--Bush is expected to propose tax credits, based on a sliding scale, to individuals or families with annual incomes of up to $80,000 who buy their own health insurance.

The plan would include incentives to channel people into prepaid health plans or managed care systems that have strong cost-control mechanisms, according to White House sources.

The President also is expected to set forth a controversial proposal that would require highly compensated workers to pay a new tax on employer-paid health benefits and to seek an increase in the amount that wealthy Americans over 65 pay for Medicare benefits.

But the budget, too, has become such a sensitive document so dominated by political concerns that government officials took the unusual step Monday of halting the press run to make last-minute adjustments after 70,000 copies of the thick documents had been printed.

Some Republican leaders--surprised that the President had devised so extensive a plan without consulting with them in more detail--reportedly expressed unhappiness with some language in the health care proposal.

Among the elements that displeased them was the plan to impose the tax on health benefits.

Even some of the President’s advisers were complaining Monday that the health care proposal was “a disaster” that would leave Bush open to sharp criticism from Democrats seeking a more thorough effort.

Times staff writers Edwin Chen and William J. Eaton contributed to this story.