POLITICS: THE ECONOMY;Republicans and Democrats Jumping on the Issue of Corporate Responsibility

Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts has always been considered a standard Republican fiscal conservative. But last month he gave his State of the State address a populist twist when he spoke of the "nagging fear" caused by corporate downsizing and lectured businesses that "you still have a responsibility for the good of the community in which you reside."

Far across the political spectrum, President Clinton's liberal Labor Secretary, Robert E. Reich, and Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts have called for using tax policy to encourage corporations to treat their workers better. Mr. Kennedy recently spoke of a "quiet Depression" and said government policies should provide "incentives for good corporate citizenship."

And now Senator Bob Dole, a traditional deficit-cutting Main Street Republican, has struck out against corporate greed, noting that "corporate profits are setting records and so are corporate layoffs" as he searches for a way to counter the economic nationalism of Patrick J. Buchanan.

Indeed, the call for corporate responsibility, which was barely a political whisper just months ago, has now become a theme of a crowded field of political figures.

The oratory does not necessarily lead Republicans and Democrats to the same places. Mr. Weld wants corporations to start hiring welfare recipients, while Mr. Reich suggests that corporate income taxes might be reduced or eliminated for companies that keep more employees on their payroll.

But major figures in both parties are being driven by the same concern about the political implications of a changing economy in which the gap between the well-to-do and the poor has been growing. The stock market hits new highs every day, yet median income is stagnant or falling.