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President Obama addressed the United Nations’ General Assembly this morning making clear the US’s opposition to the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood. While hailing the pro-democracy movements in the Arab world, he asserted that Palestinians would have to make peace with Israel before pursuing statehood. He said, “[p]eace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N. If it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now.” However, the alternative – that is, decades of US-sponsored peace talks have yet to produce results. Meanwhile, on the home-front, Obama is working hard to please progressives. The President unveiled a detailed plan to reduce the federal deficit and increase revenues on Monday, less than a week after he unveiled his American Jobs Act with great fanfare. The ‘President’s Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction will reduce the federal deficit by $3 trillion, while generating about $1.5 trillion in revenues over a decade. It assumes savings from the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations, and an effective increase in tax rates for millionaires, dubbed the “Buffett Tax,” after progressive billionaire Warren Buffett. Obama’s plan also allows the Bush-era tax cuts to expire, restores the estate tax to 2009 levels, and eliminates subsidies for the oil and gas industry – all unfulfilled campaign-era promises. With his Monday speech, the President is hoping to influence the “super-committee” put in charge of reducing the nation’s debt. As the 2012 election season nears, the American Jobs Act, which this plan would pay for, could be just the right feather in Obama’s cap, designed to ride the wave of progressive populist support for taxing the rich. Only a month ago he had conceded to Republicans on raising taxes for the rich during the debt ceiling negotiations. Obama needs all the help he can get. The latest polls show a public approval rating of only 43% nationwide, which is shockingly less than the 52% approval that his predecessor G.W. Bush garnered in 2003, just before his re-election. Using the rare threat of a veto, Obama said “I will not support any plan that puts all of the burden for closing our deficit on ordinary Americans, and I will veto any bill that changes benefits for those who rely on Medicare but does not raise serious revenues by asking the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations to pay their fair share.” Still, Obama’s plan includes $580 billion of cuts in health and welfare programs, of which $248 billion will be from Medicare, and $72 billion from Medicaid.

GUEST: Norman Solomon, progressive author and activist running for the House of Representatives in California’s 6th Congressional district which runs from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. He is campaigning for now retired Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey’s seat. Solomon describes his political platform as “The Green New Deal” and he advocates for, among other things, quality education, adequate health care, consumer protection and civil liberties.

Visit www.solomonforcongress.com for more information about Norman Solomon’s run for Congress.