Poor Der Speigel. They’re very upset with President Obama. They really believed he was elected to be president of the world and the American people would sit idly by while he signed away our sovereignty.
But few people expected that Barack Obama, of all people, would continue his predecessor’s climate change plan. When he took office at the beginning of 2009, it was clear that the success of the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in December depended almost entirely on the US — that America needed to take a clear leadership role on a problem that could shake civilization to its very core.
Only if the US manages to reduce its excessive energy consumption, commit itself to mandatory CO2 emission reduction targets and help finance poorer countries’ move away from oil is there still a chance that countries like China and India will do the same and that a dangerous warming of the Earth can be stopped. On the weekend, Obama announced that there would be no agreement on binding rules in Copenhagen. It was the admission of a massive failing — and the prelude to a truly dramatic phase of international climate policy. …
The author, Christian Schwagerl, goes on to accuse Obama of lying to the world. Guess what buddy?!? He lied to everyone. And the last time I checked the President of the United States of America has no obligation to the world. He has an obligation to abide by the Constitution of these United States of America. He’s failed to live up to that real obligation, so what are you complaining about? And something tells me if the president doesn’t sign a treaty in Copenhagen the oceans won’t start boiling any time soon.
