Domestic Policy

The Bush Administration is embroiled in an intensifying internal battle over how to beef up the President's threadbare domestic agenda in the coming year to counter the Democrats' recent success in pushing a populist theme of economic and social "fairness." The split, which pits conservatives within the Administration against pragmatists such as Budget Director Richard G.

Seeking to reinforce support from his core constituency, while at the same time possibly widening the Republican Party's appeal, President Bush is sidestepping Congress to advance the domestic policy issues he brought to the White House two years ago.

With pictures of missiles and maps of the Middle East saturating the nation's airwaves and the attention of its highest leaders, the deep-seated problems of health care, education and the economy have all but disappeared from public discourse. But while attention has been riveted on developments in the Persian Gulf War, the neglected subjects of domestic policy have become the focus of intense debate among political strategists in both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Conservatives, who not so long ago were in open rebellion against President Bush, now are rallying behind the commander in chief of the Persian Gulf war. But, given their continuing, deep-rooted misgivings about Bush's domestic policies, it is not clear whether the present honeymoon will survive the end of hostilities in the Middle East.

Even though he is "unashamedly, unabashedly on vacation" here, President Bush is keeping an eye on the slowly emerging 1992 presidential campaign from his seaside home. On Friday, he sounded out themes for his expected reelection bid, telling reporters from Maine at a news conference that the Democrats have "come upon a theme: Go after the President on 'no domestic policy.'

MILWAUKEE -- Using issues that worked for him two years ago, President Bush is revisiting some of the most important states on the political map, putting pressure on a Congress that has moved slowly on his limited domestic agenda. During the first six months of the year, the peripatetic president has visited 33 of the 50 states.

A growing Republican chorus is calling for a staff overhaul inside President Bush's beleaguered White House, but some conservatives say such a change would stop far short of fixing what they view as a serious flaw: an unfocused domestic agenda.

Ever since George W. Bush flunked a pop geography quiz from a Boston television reporter last month, the leading presidential candidates have faced pointed questions about their readiness to conduct foreign affairs. That's a legitimate issue, but it's overshadowing an equally pertinent question: Who is best equipped to break the stalemate over domestic policy? No challenge may be more critical for the next president.