President Obama is in New York City today for the United Nations General Assembly. Following meetings on Libya and a one-on-one with the Chairman of the country's new transitional council, the President will shift his focus to Afghanistan...scheduling a visit with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The President's trip comes a day after unveiling his long-awaited deficit reduction plan, outlining savings of roughly $3.6 trillion over the next ten years. Speaking in the White House rose garden yesterday, President Obama got tough on his political opponents, threatening to veto any attempt to reduce the deficit using cuts alone. Even before the President introduced the so-called "Buffett Rule" yesterday- a commitment to tax America's wealthiest citizens at the same rate as the middle class-- several Republicans already complained, calling it "class warfare." But President Obama maintains that his proposal is balanced. He said, "Either we gut education and medical research, or we've got to reform the tax code so that the most profitable corporations have to give up tax loopholes that other companies don't get. We can't afford to do both. This is not class warfare. It's math."
House Speaker John Boehner responded to the President's recommendations to cut the nation's debt yesterday in his home state of Ohio. He said, "I don't believe that class warfare is leadership." The Speaker went on to say that taxing the rich will not help the economy. Then Speaker adds that during a time of out-of-control spending, "giving the federal government more money would be like giving a cocaine addict more cocaine."