Aggressive Agenda; Climate Change Hypocrisy; Another New Plan?
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you. Well, it is Obama week in New York City -- global warming, Mideast peace, health care -- don't forget a new world economic order. The president wants it all. Is he just a little too ambitious? Also, why does the Obama administration say Americans need to be talked to like unruly teenagers about the environment -- controversial comments by the energy secretary requiring some explanation. And Massachusetts lawmakers changing the rules, giving their governor power to fill the late governor Ted Kennedy's seat -- how does the sound of Senator Michael Dukakis strike your ears?</s>ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT; news, debate and analysis for Tuesday, September 22nd. Live from New York, Mr. Independent Lou Dobbs.</s>DOBBS: Good evening, everybody. A responsibility to lead -- the presidents hold the largest ever gathering of the world leaders on climate change that he believes the United States should do more. The United Nations summit of more than 100 heads of state aimed at pushing forward negotiations on worldwide pollution. The president acknowledging America's mixed reviews on climate change and responding to criticism by some that the United States could do better.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For too many years, mankind has been slow to respond or even recognize the magnitude of the climate threat. It is true of my own country as well. We recognize that. But this is a new day. It is a new era.</s>DOBBS: While the president also pushing for a new era of Middle East peace, holding meetings today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Later this week he'll be pushing for a new world order at the group of 20- Summit where he will urge world leaders to, as he puts it, rebalance the global economy. Joining us now our White House correspondent Dan Lothian -- Dan, the president already struggling with a domestic agenda that is broad and varied and then to take on this international, this ambitious agenda right now.</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Very ambitious, but this administration really believes that these are all issues that need to be tackled right now. Global -- the global climate change rather, the U.S. and China biggest emitters, and this is an area where the president thinks both China and the U.S. can do more. On the peace talks, the president pointed out today that you know for so long history has laid sort of out this case of trying to get a peace plan there and not being able to and failing. And he says it's time for us to stop talking about having negotiations and really make some action here. The president, you know while he is pointing out that the Palestinians and the Israelis are making some progress, he's also saying that they have a long way to go. Take a listen.</s>OBAMA: Palestinians have strengthened their efforts on security. But they need to do more to stop incitement and to move forward with negotiations. Israelis have facilitated greater freedom of movement for the Palestinians and discussed important steps to restrain settlement activity, but they need to translate these discussions into real action on this and other issues.</s>LOTHIAN: So where does it go from here? Next week Senator Mitchell is a special envoy to the Middle East, will be meeting with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Washington and then after that the president is asking for Secretary Clinton to give him an update on negotiations by mid October.</s>DOBBS: Ambitious hardly describes what is going on with this agenda this week, including the G-20 meeting which will be held in Pittsburgh later this week where he's going to quote/unquote "try to rebalance the global economy". Is there anything about the man that reaches out to a modest initiative?</s>LOTHIAN: Nothing modest about this president at all. I mean he really is pushing for everything at this point. Again, realizing that there are a lot of critical issues that need to be addressed, so the president goes to the G-20 -- a different climate though -- the last time these G-20 leaders got together, the U.S. was on the brink of what everybody described as a second depression. And so the climate is a little bit friendlier as the president goes in there, but still a lot of critical issues that will have to be addressed when the president meets with these leaders.</s>DOBBS: All right. Thank you very much Dan and Dan will be there with the president...</s>LOTHIAN: That's right...</s>DOBBS: ... G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh. Thanks, Dan -- Dan Lothian, White House correspondent. The United States needs to take the lead fighting global warming. That message actually coming from China, the world's biggest polluter. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, the Chinese premier saying his country will do what it can, but the responsibility of cutting green house gas emissions is really up to other countries, in other words, the United States. Kitty Pilgrim has our report.</s>KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): China is the largest greenhouse gas polluter in the world. Today, President Hu Jintao promised to endeavor to cut emissions by a notable margin, a statement short on specifics.</s>PRESIDENT HU JINTAO, CHINA (through translator): We will endeavor to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by a notable margin by 2020 from the 2005 level.</s>PILGRIM: Some conservatives argue that cutting emissions based on GDP growth is not a real cut at all. David Kreutzer of the conservative Heritage Foundation calls the offer a sham.</s>DAVID KREUTZER, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: So they're trying to hype this as China coming along and actually doing something. He said that they would reduce their carbon intensity of their economy. The United States has been doing that for decades at least. He is just simply saying we're going to emit fewer tons of C02 per dollar of GDP. Well that, you know that's not a commitment to any sort of limit.</s>PILGRIM: China, the manufacturing center of the world, belches out more pollutants than any other country. Its coal fired plants are still the source of 60 percent of the country's energy, the mainstay of industry. The most recent World Bank report found up to 750,000 people die prematurely each year in China because of pollution and 16 of the world's most polluted cities are in China. Ten percent of China's energy is non fossil fuels, so a pledge to increase that to 15 percent by 2015 is statistically insignificant. Jake Schmidt of Natural Resources Defense Council says the announcement was China's first move in a global negotiation.</s>JAKE SCHMIDT, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: This was their opening offer. Just like when you go into a negotiation over a house, the sort of opening bid isn't always kind of your final offer and I think that's what the Chinese did today.</s>PILGRIM: Now the tactic today was seen as an attempt to make the U.S. make a counter offer to come forward with its own commitment. China and India have long argued that the United States and other developed countries have the burden of cutting emissions first because developed countries have been the polluters for decades. Lou?</s>DOBBS: And the discussion goes on. Kitty, thank you very much -- Kitty Pilgrim. Well looking at the most recent polls, the president is taking on the ambitious international agenda, as Dan Lothian reported, while coming up with a frustratingly slow march on his domestic agenda. And the president is not now matching up well against some of his predecessors in approval ratings. According to a new Gallup poll, the president's average job approval rating has now fallen to 52 percent. Only former President Clinton had a lower rating at this point in his presidency, going all the way back to the administration of Franklin F. Roosevelt. The polling reveals some deep concerns about the economy as well and the increasing role of government in our society and the president's plan to overhaul of the health care system. There is growing debate tonight about a possible troop surge in Afghanistan. But one person is not sold on the surge. And that person is secretary of state Hillary Clinton. The secretary says she respects General Stanley McChrystal's blunt warning that the United States could lose the war without more troops and resources. However, Secretary Clinton says there are plenty of experts who disagree, but she did not say just who they are. The comments exposing a rift in the administration between the White House and the Defense Department and among Democrats -- Congressman Ike Skelton, the top Democrat on the House Arms Services Committee, he wants more troops and both Democrats and Republicans alike are now calling upon General McChrystal to come to Capitol Hill and to testify in person. New developments in the cross country terrorist probe -- warnings are going out to local police departments to keep an eye on stadiums, hotels, other so-called soft targets. The FBI says about a dozen suspects are being investigated and sought and more arrests are expected. So far, three men have been picked up in what the Justice Department says is an al Qaeda plot to blow up trains in New York City. Well, is the White House using the National Endowment for the Arts to push its political agenda? A newly disclosed audiotape raises serious questions and provides troubling answers. The ever evolving health care initiative -- now even Senator Max Baucus, well he wants change, too, change someone can believe in. And new calls tonight for a complete federal investigation of the left-wing activist group ACORN -- we continue in one minute.