Bush Team Lacks Clear Economic Plan, Critics Say

Bush economic team member, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman N. Gregory Mankiw. (File Photo)

High oil prices, a stagnant labor market -- and the lack of a more forceful response from the Bush campaign -- have sparked worry among White House allies that the administration's economic team has been too content cheerleading in defense of past policies instead of setting more detailed plans for a second term.

While the economic recovery hummed along, there were few complaints about the low-key styles of Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans, National Economic Council director Stephen Friedman and Council of Economic Advisers Chairman N. Gregory Mankiw -- especially after the internal bickering that marred the tenure of Bush's first economic team. But recent news, from slowing economic growth to wilting job creation, has changed the landscape. With the Republican convention a week away, allies and opponents are clamoring for more specifics.

"You either define yourself on these big issues or the Democrats will define you," said Richard K. Armey, the former House Republican leader who co-chairs the new conservative advocacy group FreedomWorks. "John Kerry will do just fine with what he thinks your secret plan is if you don't tell us what it is."

"This is a team that's much more subtle, much more behind the scenes, working together rather than three lone rangers" like the first Bush team, said Diane Swonk, the chief economist at Bank One Corp. "Up until even just a month ago, it was okay to be behind the scenes, but we have a different economic atmosphere now."

Responding to such pleas, the Bush campaign recently began advertising the "ownership agenda," with the president intoning, "One of the most important parts of a reform agenda is to encourage people to own something: own their own home, own their own business, own their own health care plan or own a piece of their retirement."

But the advertisement did little to quell the concern. Voters, in fact, received few details. Those were left to a fact sheet e-mailed to reporters: tax-free medical savings accounts, assistance with down payments for low-income home buyers, the extension of previous tax cuts and the diversion of some Social Security taxes to personal accounts that could be invested in stocks or bonds.

Armey said Bush spoke more clearly and forcefully on some of these issues -- especially Social Security privatization -- in the 2000 campaign than he is doing now. Besides, said Richard Berner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, "he has been talking about the ownership agenda for a while. I can't see this at all as new."

"I guess the most accurate thing I could say is there's sort of a deafening silence," said Donald Luskin, a conservative investment adviser in California. Referring to the current economic team, Luskin said, "The period these people have been in power is a period when very little economic initiative has been coming out of the White House."

On Wall Street, numerous economists praise the team's handling of some delicate matters. Through frequent visits and earnest listening sessions, Snow has repaired relations between the administration and the financial community after the damage done by his predecessor, Paul H. O'Neill, whose offhand and sometimes insulting comments upset Wall Street.

The Treasury Department has deftly handled an orderly decline in the value of the dollar, boosting U.S. exports through dollar deflation without creating a currency crisis, the economists said. Faced with anger over Chinese imports, the economic team has diplomatically placated protectionist voices without disrupting trade relations.