President Bush’s Economic Plan

Three crucial economic issues show the enormous gulf between President Bush and Gov. Bill Clinton.

First, the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiated by the President is the first of a series of worldwide agreements that will open up huge markets for American products and provide future American jobs. Initially, Clinton supported it, then he opposed it. Currently, he’s in the neutral zone, wet finger pointing upward.

Second, the President favors the right of low- and middle-income parents to use part of their own tax money to send their children to a school of their own choice. Before the Democratic convention, Clinton liked the idea. As the National Education Assn. flexed its political muscle, parents rights were trashed. Now the governor is for the NEA’s form of educational choice, i.e., restrict parents to choosing among government schools. That’s a New Covenant? Sounds like family abuse.

Third, the President is dedicated to ridding the economy of the immense economic burden clamped on every element in our society by a powerful out-of-control legal industry. So far, Clinton has been silent on this critical issue. This silence is more than golden, it’s a financial bonanza as megabucks flow from trial lawyers to the Clinton campaign.

Which vision is for needed change, which is for politics-as-usual?

JOSEPH COSTA, Murrieta