ATLANTA -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accused the Bush administration of squandering the balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility that she said her husband created as president.

The New York Democrat, who has been talked about as a potential presidential candidate in 2008, also said during a speech at an Atlanta synagogue she thinks the U.S. government should rethink its policy in Iraq.

Clinton said she doesn't support a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq nor does she support leaving our troops there for an open-ended period. Instead, she said the U.S. should encourage the Iraqi people to take more control of their security and let them know American troops won't be there forever.

"We need a much stronger commitment to the underlying values of America," Clinton said, adding that the U.S. needs to follow the rule of law in setting its foreign policy.

Clinton was equally outspoken on the economy. She told several thousand spectators that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was able to balance the budget while at the same time creating 22 million jobs. But she said that fiscal responsibility has been lost of late.

"Borrow and spend, borrow and spend, that's all we've done the last four years," Clinton said. "This has been the only time in history that our president has taken us to war and cut taxes at the same time. It doesn't add up."

Clinton said it's difficult to deal with free trade and currency issues in countries like China when we are borrowing billions of dollars from them to handle our deficit.

"It's hard to ask our banker to be accountable," Clinton said.

Asked about Bush Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, Clinton said she's eager for the Senate confirmation process to be played out. She did say there is one question she thinks Miers should be asked.

"Please tell us one thing you disagree with the president on," Clinton said to loud applause from the crowd.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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