More From Gore On Elian
Vice President Al Gore said Tuesday that Elian Gonzalez's father should be allowed to take his son home "if the father says on free soil that he believes that the son should go back to Cuba with him."
Gore, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, also denied that he changed course last week when he said the 6-year-old should be allowed to remain in the United States while his custody case is heard in family court.
The Clinton administration wants the boy turned over to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, so he can take him home if he desires.
"I said more than four months ago he should be given a visa, along with his wife and new baby, and come here and stand on free soil and say what he really believes about this case," Gore said on NBC's Today.
Pressed about whether Elian's Florida relatives should surrender him to his father if he comes to the United States, Gore said: "If the father says on free soil that he believes that the son should go back to Cuba with him, that of course, is likely to be determinative, and will be determinative, but he has to be allowed to say that free of the intimidation."
Elian was plucked from the Atlantic last November after his mother and 10 others drowned while trying to flee from Cuba.
Over the past four months, he has been staying with relatives in Miami's Little Havana section. The case has turned into a major diplomatic challenge for the United States and Cuba.
Political analysts have questioned the motives behind Gore's shift in the case, noting that he is in a close election battle with the presumed Republican presidential nominee, George W. Bush.
The Gonzalez case has inflamed South Florida's Cuban-American community, and Democrats there have warned of repercussions if the administration takes the boy away from his relatives.
Gore, making his first comments on the subject since his campaign released a statement last week, denied that he had changed positions.
"Over four months ago, I said exactly the same thing: that the father and his family should be given visas to come here and state on free soil what the father's wishes really are," Gore said. "It's the same position that I have had from the beginning."
Gore was visiting Philadelphia to speak at a community center where, aides said, he would address proposals to make sure women particularly homemakers and widowers get their fair share under Social Security.
He was to attend Democratic fund-raisers Tuesday on Long Island.
Fund raising is interlaced throughout Gore's full schedule this week. On Monday night, his intimate, $50,000-per-person dinner in Atlanta brought the Democratic National Committee $1.5 million. The money chase will lead Gore to Annapolis, Md., on Wednesday, Palm Beach, Fla., on Thursday and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Friday.
During his visit to Atlanta, Gore said the problem of bad schools should be treated as a "national emergency" and thahe not Bush used that phrase first.
During a visit to Morehouse College, a student pressed Gore on why the education improvements he is promising as a presidential candidate haven't come sooner.
The vice president replied by saying that he felt "the same sense of urgency."
"We cannot afford to wait another day for the dramatic changes and improvements that are needed," said Gore. "We need to treat the existence of failing schools as a national emergency. I used that phrase a year ago."
Bush, the Texas governor, last week described illiteracy among young students as a national emergency and unveiled a $5 billion program to ensure they can read by the end of the third grade.
Gore wants to spend $115 billion over 10 years to reduce class sizes by hiring about 70,000 teachers. His plan also calls for money for school construction and linking every classroom and library to the Internet within four years.
He said he used the "national emergency" phrase last year in a May commencement speech at Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. A transcript of the speech is available on his campaign web site.