Washington ? Moving to seize the political offensive, President Bush on Monday delivered a direct attack on the Democrats trying to unseat him, saying they had offered no policies that would win the war on terrorism or expand the economy.

“So far all we hear is a lot of old bitterness and partisan anger,” Bush said. “Anger is not an agenda for the future of America.”

In one of the most partisan speeches of his presidency, Bush burnished the two pillars of his re-election bid so far: that he is a decisive “war president” who will not relent in the war against terrorism, and that he remains deeply engaged in the task of creating new jobs. But for the first time, Bush also criticized what he said were the failings of the Democrats competing for the nomination to challenge him in November.

Voters, Bush said, would have “a very clear choice” between his vision of “an America that leads the world with strength and confidence or an America that is uncertain in the face of danger.”

Contrasting his tax cuts with proposals from the Democratic candidates, Bush warned: “Listen closely, because there’s a theme. Every promise will increase the power of politicians and bureaucrats over your income, over your retirement, over your health care and over your life. It’s the same old Washington mind-set: They’ll give the orders, and you’ll pay the bills.”

The address, to a receptive audience of Republican governors and donors at at a $1,000-a-person fund-raising reception for the Republican Governors Assn., marked a decision by Bush and his re-election team to move onto an aggressive campaign footing even before Democrats had chosen their nominee.

Next week, the Bush campaign will air its first television advertisements, another signal that Bush is willing to show himself as a partisan candidate as well as a president and statesman.

The president has been buffeted in recent weeks by a series of policy problems and White House missteps that have pushed his job approval rating to the lowest point of his presidency. In a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press this month, Bush’s overall favorability rating tumbled to 48 percent from 72 percent last April, shortly after the fall of Baghdad, Iraq. Other polls have reflected similar falls.

Bush’s problems have included new questions about the administration’s prewar claim that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, an assertion that has not been validated.

Bush’s major domestic achievements have also come under fire, with fiscal conservatives complaining about a newly increased price tag for the Medicare prescription drug benefit, and lawmakers in some states complaining about the No Child Left Behind Act, which they say puts new demands on schools without offering adequate funds.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president, said the fact that Bush had started his campaign even before his opponent was known showed that the president was “on the run.” Kerry made the comment in New York, before Bush’s address.

In a written statement, Kerry added that “the president is right: We do have a different vision for America than he does. We believe in an America that’s creating jobs, not losing them. We believe in an America where Americans can afford health care, not lose it in record numbers. … We believe in an America that’s stronger, not weaker.”

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Kerry’s principal challenger for the Democratic nomination, said, “Unless the president’s found a way in the last 24 hours to create millions of jobs, unless he’s found a way to solve the health-care crisis in this country … I can’t imagine he has all that much to say tonight.” Edwards spoke in Albany, Ga., also before Bush’s address.