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Obama Has Failed the World on Climate Change
The folder labeled "climate change" that George W. Bush left behind for his successor on the desk of the Oval Office in January likely wasn't a thick one. Although Bush once said that America is overly-dependent on oil, he never got beyond that insight. He was too busy waging war on Iraq and searching for a legal basis for extraordinary renditions to pay much attention to the real threat facing humanity. "Forget the climate" seems to have been Bush's unofficial motto.
But few people expected that the 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 the move away from oil for poorer countries, 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.
Obama Lied to the Europeans
Barack Obama cast himself as a "citizen of the world" when he delivered his well-received campaign speech in Berlin in the summer of 2008. But the US president has now betrayed this claim. In his Berlin speech, he was dishonest with Europe. Since then, Obama has neglected the single most important issue for an American president who likes to imagine himself as a world citizen, namely his country's addiction to fossil fuels and the risks of unchecked climate change. Health care reform and other domestic issues were more important to him than global environmental threats. He was either unwilling or unable to convince skeptics in his own ranks and potential defectors from the ranks of the Republicans to support him, for example by promising alternative investments as a compensation for states with large coal reserves.
Obama's announcement at the APEC summit that it was no longer possible to secure a binding treaty in Copenhagen, is the result of his own negligence. China, India and other emerging economies have always spoken openly about the fact that the US, as the world's largest emitter of CO2, has to be proactive in commiting itself to targets agreed on by way of international negotiation. But that is not America's style. The US is quite happy to see itself as the leader of the Western world. But when it comes to climate change, America has once again failed miserably -- for the umpteenth time.
If the rest of the world were to follow the US example in their approach to fossil fuels, the oceans would not only heat up, but would probably soon begin to boil. American CO2 emissions per capita are about twice as high as those in comparable industrialized nations and many times greater than those of the developing world. The climate change bill that is currently making its way through Congress does not go nearly far enough -- and that is Obama's fault. The bill proposed reducing CO2 emissions by a ridiculous 4 percent relative to 1990 levels, by 2020. Climate researchers believe that reductions of 40 percent or more are required.
The bill has since been watered down even more -- by exactly the kind of lobbying interests which the new US president had promised to overcome. Obama has neglected to communicate the importance of climate change to his fellow citizens by speaking about it in a major speech or in his much-loved "town hall" meetings. And he has left it to the Europeans to take the lead.
Americans Do Not Look Beyond their Own Borders
Obama's priorities are wrong. Copenhagen is not just any old summit -- it is the long-awaited climax of many years of negotiations, negotiations whose failure was only averted at the last minute at the Bali summit two years ago. Industry and energy companies around the world will use the results of the Copenhagen summit as a benchmark when they are planning their investments for the coming years and decades.
Obama was quite happy to make the trip to Copenhagen in October to support his hometown Chicago's bid to host the Olympic Games. But he is currently leaving open the question of whether he will come to the Danish capital in December for the UN Climate Change Conference. In doing so, he has given other world leaders the signal that they do not need to attend. If the Copenhagen summit, which energy strategists and environmentalists have been preparing for two years, is a failure, then it will mainly be Obama's fault.
Admittedly the Europeans have been slow to make concrete pledges of the billions of euros that are needed to help developing countries combat climate change, but at least they are prepared to make significant CO2 reductions of up to 30 percent by 2020, relative to 1990 levels. The US, however, is dragging its feet, preferring tactics to strategy -- just as was the case under George W. Bush.
Dreamt Up by Hollywood
For most Americans, the world beyond the US's borders is nothing more than an irritating nuisance. Hence arguments based on appeals about drowning Bangladeshis, starving Africans and flooded islands in Indonesia have little effect. In Hollywood, the United States has an industry that continually pushes the materialistic ideal of Western prosperity to billions of people around the world, while at the same time bombarding them with apocalyptic visions in the form of disaster movies.
Many Americans clearly also believe that real climate change is just something dreamt up by the entertainment industry.
Obama has proven himself to be unable to put an end to the lies that modern American society is based on. He is unable to overcome the entrenched lobbyists of the oil and coal industries and make the reality clear to his compatriots: They are the worst energy wasters on the planet -- and are thus indirectly a major threat to world peace in the 21st century. Although they do not enjoy a higher quality of life than Europeans, Americans consume twice as much fossil fuel per capita. Their cars are too big, their homes are not energy efficient and they have yet to focus their talents for innovation away from trivial entertainment gadgets and toward renewable energy technologies.
The Main Culprit
It may seem arrogant to take the Americans to task to such a degree. But at least in Europe, many are willing to question their own lifestyle and to look at events beyond their own borders.
The Copenhagen summit, which is just three weeks away, is not lost yet. But if the worst-case scenario becomes reality at Copenhagen and at the follow-up conferences -- if, in other words, world leaders ignore the findings of the global scientific community -- then the US will find itself in a very uncomfortable position. America will be seen as the primary culprit of global warming -- and this after the US, with its rampant real estate speculation, has given us a global economic crisis which has not only destroyed assets, but pushed 100 million people worldwide into hunger. With that kind of track record, the US hardly has a claim any more to the leadership of the Western world -- let alone a Nobel Peace Prize for its leader.
A world of flooded coasts, dried-up rivers and disappearing rainforests will lead to massive refugee movements and conflict. The Nobel Committee should postpone the award of the Nobel Peace Prize from Dec. 10 to Dec. 20. Only if Obama has achieved a convincing deal at the Copenhagen conference will there be a real reason to honor him.
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58 Comments so far
Show AllNot even the Climate in DC changed with The Bomber!
It may be that Obama has used the wrong concept. Doesn't the rising water lift all of the boats?
The propaganda campaign to convince Americans that climate change is malarkey has been successful.
Only 57% believe there's solid scientific evidence of a warming planet, down 20% from two years ago.
Only 36% of Americans believe that human activity is the cause of global warming.
This pathetic state of affairs is the direct result of an aggressive disinformation campaign launched by the media which is owned almost ENTIRELY by corporate interests opposed to carbon reduction legislation.
Until the public airwaves are returned to their rightful owners under a new Fairness Doctrine and the media megaliths are anti-trusted into a thousand little pieces the American public will remain duped and the government will remain unmoved on climate saving action.
And the inhabitants of the Earth will pay the ultimate price.
-----------
Whoever controls the media controls the country. Period.
Governments can solve climate change by stepping aside and allowing environmentally friendly small businesses to compete fairly with the corporate polluting welfare queens. Government cannot mandate caps while simultaneously funding the biggest polluters with our taxpayer money.
Obama has failed, please fill in the blank _________________.
Yes, we know.
AMEN !
For 60 basis points of tax, you can have free public transit in your town or city. This is not a pipe dream, it is being done right now in communities around the world. Changning, China estimates they took 10,000 cars off the road with free transit.
http://frepubtra.blogspot.com
Good article.
Obama's priorities are highly skewed.
Health Care reform should take its place in line behind Iraq, Afghanistan and climate change.
(Climate change is the most important issue, but the wars are really easy to fix/end.)
I don't even care if the climate bill passes. It looks like it was written by the coal industry.
Obama's presidency is playing out with no resemblanceto his campaign.
Re:Governments can solve climate change by stepping aside and allowing environmentally friendly small businesses to compete fairly with the corporate polluting welfare queens.
On the contray. Governments must step up to the plate and reverse their allegiance to corporate America via the implementation of strong legislation to curb corporate influence, eliminate corporate handouts, mandate environmentally friendly courses of action and adequately fund the enforcement agencies required to successfully see this through. "Stepping aside" indicates "no interfering", when interference is exactly what's lacking.
Currently small businesses operate at a dinstinct disadvantage aginst Big Oil and other powerful, private interests precisely because government has "stepped aside" and allowed the public interest to be undermined by a few, narrowly focused, profit driven elite companies.
Cygnus-X1-isaHole writes... "Whoever controls the media controls the country. Period."
Unfortunately that is too true. It is also why corporate lackies like Bush, Clinton and now Obama got elected. Corporate America really doesn't care if a Democrat or a Republican gets in, as long as their corporate fealty is never in doubt. The disaster of healthcare 'reform', the increase in military spending, the snubbing of Copenhagen and the bailout of Wall Street is more than enough evidence that all of our current leaders align themselves with their corporate sponsors rather than the public interest.
As long as the general public remains ignorant (via corporate media) about how we can solve this mess, the bleeding won't stop.
One way we can do this, is at a grass roots level in which we must prevent the corporation from infiltrating our schools, introducing community debates on the menaces of MSM and direting people to well intentioned websites, books and other information sources while teaching them to be very sceptical of what's on T.V., the radio and in the major newspapers. Americans can not funnel their anger in the right direction until they know who the culprit is.
The reason small businesses operate at a distinct disadvantage is government interfering for bigger interests such as Big oil. Government hasn't stepped aside at all. If government stepped aside, we would know for sure what the public really wants. Do they want Big oil and similar or small businesses? The answer is really unknown because of government. I'm not a corporate favoring libertarian but I want to be a self-employeed entrepreneur without too much government taxation and auditing on us little guys. Big corporations would stop interfering the minute government stopped paying them with our tax money.
"The disaster of healthcare 'reform', the increase in military spending, the snubbing of Copenhagen and the bailout of Wall Street is more than enough evidence that all of our current leaders align themselves with their corporate sponsors rather than the public interest.
"As long as the general public remains ignorant (via corporate media) about how we can solve this mess, the bleeding won't stop."
You have described well the totalitarian nature of the US federal governemnt, its actors and allies.
This article misses the obvious.
Obama HAS NOT failed. He is probably very proud of what he has done.
He is the Corporate Tool in Chief. He made this very clear BEFORE the election of 2008.
Please stop expressing disappointment and hopefulness.
Wake up.
we agree!!
Ask the kids in Afghanistan whose lives are being blown up how they feel about
the obomba change we can believe in, yicks.
The people that are disappointed in OBOMBA are the ones that are still being conned by this consummate con man and he is so good that I am afraid many will never wake up.
The writer fails to recognize what the US national government has become--a new form of totalitarian entity--that explains why its selected leaders do nothing in response to public opinion of ANY sort--national or international--and must resort to lies when speaking at them.
The most effective message Eurpopeans could ever deliver to the US federal government would be to drive its military establishments out of the sub-continent and dissolve NATO while withdrawing from the WTO. Such acts would finally liberate Europe from being occupied since WW2's end.
Hope is cheap.
You would be better off hoping to win the lotto.
I cant imagine who Obama expects to vote him in for a second term.
He has pissed off the people that brought him to power by cozying up to the GOP, who would not vote for him even if he began channelling Ronald Regan, while dressing up as Nancy
"I cant imagine who Obama expects to vote him in for a second term."
Democrats. And he's right.
sure says a lot about democrats doesn't it?
I'm going to say this again. I heard Derrick Jensen say it.
Hope is the desire for a contingency in which we have no agency. Example: I do not hope to drive my car, I just do it. I hope that I will not be rammed from the rear by an eighteen wheeler while sitting at a light. Hope relieves us of responsibility by depending on wishful thinking.
And this from Schopenhauer: Hope is the confusion of the desire for a thing with it's probability. If a person is brought to the point of realizing that what he wants to happen can never happen simply because he wants it, and what he does not want to happen must happen, then this person is in despair. Who is without hope is also without fear.
This may explain why, in the face of almost certain death from GW and considering the indifference our president demonstrates toward it, people are unafraid.
My own opinion: Despair is a definitive judgment on the absurdity of human existence. It can not be ameliorated by good fortune nor induced by misfortune.
Find reasons fast enough to face the sky and roar
Demanding that it name whoever is to blame
The sky would only wait until all my breath was gone
And then reiterate, as if I wasn't there,
That singular command I do not understand which has to be obeyed:
Bless what there is for being
What else am I made for, agreeing or disagreeing? Can't remember the author---wasn't me.
The bottom line being that our hope is akin to the prisoners in Victor Frankl's " Man's Search for Meaning" who put God on trial and found him guilty, then prepared for the evening prayers.
It was hope that sustained the prisoners, but, as the title suggests, what they found was not hope but meaning.
Sioux Rose
The intellect may guide your path to the door, but only the open heart can turn the key.
Have you read Kahlil Gibran? His understanding is profound and rich. I highly recommend the poetry of his words and the depth their understanding conveys.
Sioux Rose
NIETSCHZE: The (human) mind can drive one crazy. When the Buddha realized the things you relate and decided he was ready to stake it all, entered a cave and went without food, water, or any diversions... something in his consciousness, (some might call it the product of starvation) shifted and he understood the world from a transcendent perspective.
The mind can only take us so far, and then we must enter the 4th dimension, that of the heart. The heart is situated where the mystics see the 4th chakra, and in my view, its position midway between the lower 3 chakras (those that refer to our physical needs, mental musings & wanderings, and raw emotions) and the upper 3 chakras (those which extend states generally only known to mystics and adepts) makes it a gateway, a true trans-dimensional zone. Nor is it painless to live FROM the heart. Our egos want to be right, they want to own answers. Our egos and intellects are frequently wedded together. This is why sometimes it is the simple person who lacks a formal education who can see further from this zone of the heart, and capably conveys a wisdom beyond what can be taught.
I share this because I feel your pain, struggle with the same issues and intellectual processes of inquiry that you do. However, I believe that parts of ourselves are bound to aspects of Essence that are not tethered to this world, and therefore not limited by its rules or impossible pain and injustice(s). You need not go into a cave for any long journey, but perhaps grant credence to the fact that a part of your inner being knows a state of wonder beyond what is being revealed in the modern world experience of today and this particular strained moment. That understanding sustains me. So I am passing it on in Peace, Sioux
That is why I read so few books that I have not read before. Everything I need to know I have found in a relatively few books, others repeat what is there; and if one contradicts all those sources which agree I dismiss it as wrong. Besides, I pretty much know sense when I hear it, like Jim in Mark Twain's tale.
I am apparently the only person who has found from my own experience and agreement with other sources to be always correct: The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment by Thaddeus Golas. The Perennial Philosophy by Huxley is priceless.
But to sustain me The Hindu classics, The Gita, the Upanishads, The Vedas are transcendent works that covey what Rudolf Otto calls The Idea of The Holy---Pure consciousness, pure being. This transcendence is worth more to me than all the creeds combined. I could make a longer list and will upon request but you get the idea. And I have also read Gibran; thank you for caring about me, and because you care I wanted to reassure you of my rich inner life of wonder which each must find in her own way.
Sioux Rose
A toast then to "The riches of the inner life." You sounded a bit down (anyone paying attention can't help feeling that way these days), so I thought I'd minister with some medicine from the Spirit. Thank you for your response. I never read "The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment," although I found the title catchy. Maybe I'll get to it. Due to so many recommendations on this thread, I have quite an extensive reading list. Should I remain in my present domicile during winter, these books will keep me busy!
The writer thinks that this kind of rhetoric can change policy positions however rhetoric must be backed up with real consequences to make it viable.
How about a world wide boycott of U.S. products if Obama doesn't show at Copenhagen?
For instance, if a group like Greenpeace or a Country (the bigger the consumer base the better) called for an all out boycott of U.S. Goods if Obama derails the Copenhagen talks then perhaps the Obama administration might make an effort to forge and sign a meaningful agreement.
How about lefty Americans Boycott dirty coal power, tar sands oil, (who is selling this stuff anyway...BP, Exxon?), flying on dirty airliners, and stop using credit to buy crap instead of just speaking rhetoric?
Hitting them in the corporate pocket books is what corporations and their lapdog politicians understand and yield to not empty rhetoric or election cycle bashing.
A boycott of American products would be a fine idea, if only the U.S. still manufactured anything.
They do: weapons.
Someday Obamabot's two little girls are gonna grow up and people will ask them decades from now, "And what did your daddy do?"
Meanwhile, excellent article in my opinion and refreshing for expressing something other than the U.S. view. However, a consideration...
The article notes:
"American CO2 emissions per capita are about twice as high as those in comparable industrialized nations and many times greater than those of the developing world. The climate change bill that is currently making its way through Congress does not go nearly far enough -- and that is Obama's fault. The bill proposed reducing CO2 emissions by a ridiculous 4 percent relative to 1990 levels, by 2020. Climate researchers believe that reductions of 40 percent or more are required."
One major problem here is that there probably are no "comparable industrialized nations." We are uniquely profligate. For starters we came out of WWII victorious and immediately killed off huge portions of our public transit systems (most people today have not the slightest idea how exgtensive they really were...), suburbanated, built Ike's expansive Interstate Defense Highway System, turned our agriculture into a toxic chemical soup... the list goes on. Before the war, most municipalities were not organized around the automobile. Industrial towns all over the country were organized so that in many cases MOST housing was within walking distance of the factory where you worked (e.g., Jasper, IN, Hamilton, OH, even Detroit!). Men could actually be seen walking to work with a lunch pail in one hand! Most other industrialized countries never followed this post-war model (southeastern Canada being possibly an exception). In other words, our wasteful polluting ways are imbedded in our infrastructure today in ways that make it much harder for us to meet any reality-based targets for CO2 reductions than most other countries. We've built ourselves into a very nasty corner and for us to do what needs to be done we are gonna have to take far more drastic action than people realize.
(One major healthy thing we could do, which probably is not properly addressed in any climate bill, is to drastically cut back on eating beef, which is a major greenhouse gas contributor.) (We also need to SLOW DOWN. I'm scared to use any Interstate; those drivers, including the truckers, are NUTS! We need to incentivize slowing down; it also saves gas costs.) If people took global warming seriously in this country and then started doing something about it, the aggregate incrementals could mount significantly (e.g., zoned home-heating; heat the space you are in, not the whole damned house. Lower ceilings: ever notice how high that Wal*Mart ceiling is, with all that warm air constantly seeking to move upward?).
By 2020 we should also have radically altered urban planning in this country to restore it to something resembling pre-WWII tendencies. Who the hell wants to drive 50 miles RT to work everyday plus drop off the kids at a distant school anyway? Etc., etc. (All the things everybody already knows...solar, windmills, geothermal...)
The author writes that with the failure of Copenhagen, "America will be seen as the primary culprit of global warming..." You can be sure that the world already sees us this way, and they are right. We are on an extremely self-destructive and unsustainable path and many of us, in our more reflective moods, know this, but we continue our daily grind of self-immolation so we can leave our children what?
Rise Up America: You Have Nothing to Lose but your Chains. Take back The Commons.
-30-
Sioux Rose
If climate change was perceived through the rubric of "environmental terrorism" I suppose there would be a great amount of money provided to "fight" it. Maybe this is a George Lakoff moment, where the secret is all in the framing?
When we take into account the painfully reprobate "leadership" of the U.S with respect to its cavalier disregard for sane, ecological protocols designed to lessen the impact of climate change, added to the U.S. being directly involved in the "derivatives plot" to take down the value of entire nations' currencies, added to the genetically malign legacy provided by DU, added to the U.S. serving as arms merchant to the world, our rogue nation is guilty of murder and theft and ecocide on an impossible scale, all across the board.
The U.S. under the influence of Mammon (Wall St) and Mars (the MIC/Pentagon/defense contractors) reminds me of Darth Vader. I've always seen Star Wars as THE myth of our times, and as the films relate, what is needed is an eclectic joining together of a variety of marginalized groups that ingeniously locate the flaw in the "death star" and take it down. I view this outcome as inevitable, though neither quick, easy nor painless.
Environment, money, and wars are three separate issues. Carbon emissions were less in the past but there was still plenty of greed and wars to pass around the globe. Arms were shipped all over the world and currencies faced manipulation in the past long before global warming came up as an issue. Pollution went up even in Reagan's and Clinton's presidencies when there were fewer wars and the economy wasn't as bad.
Then, there is government itself. Theoretically, government can choose to spend on any or all three programs (climate control options (whatever they are), Wall St, and defense) because all they have to do is raise the debt ceiling.
Sioux Rose
LEX: To you they may appear as three separate issues, but just as I watched (for the first time) the film, "The Perfect Storm" a few weeks ago, often it is in the conjunction of seemingly separate systems that factors coalesce to bring about one kick-ass (shit) storm. We're very close to that perfect storm on a national karmic level. Have fun separating the dots.
Sioux, thanks for clarifying. I don't see the complete connect among the 3. I am used to taking each issue separately and finding a reasonable plan.
I am surprised that the worst hasn't happened yet. I wished government would stop meddling with foreign affairs. All that happens is wars anyway. On Wall St, government could have stepped aside and not bailed those corporate giants out. Even on the environment, without promoting green jobs, I don't see anything pro-environmental that government is pushing for. I wished they would step aside there too and allow small business environmental entrepreneurs to compete with the big business polluters currently being subsidized. I don't mean to sound libertarian but it just keeps looking like government is interfering for wars and money instead of giving people a chance. I don't want to witness the worst and none of us deserve it except for the perpatrators.
Sioux Rose
LEX: I appreciate your polite manner. If you have been following both published articles and readers' comments on this site, you must notice that what we call "government" has morphed into little more than agents of corporate interest. Ralph Nader pointed this out. There was a time when there were a few hundred lobbying firms, but now they absolutely DOMINATE Washington and OWN our elected "representatives." The rise in corporate power and its affiliation with state power in most dictionaries is defined at essence as fascism. Ours is served lite, with a twist of patriotic fervor, aided and abeted by a disinformation campaign media that runs 24/7 to manufacture consent. Thus the public lacks true awareness of the issues and their underlying components, and those in positions to eradicate the tide of ignorance have no inclination to do so. Profit has become too great, the ersatz god, mammon, before whose altar too many lay their allegiance; added to the complementary rise of militarism to support the items the corporations wish to lay claim to. Thomas or Robert (I always forget which) said presciently, "There can be no McDonalds without MacDonnell Douglas." And the chronicles of Smedley Butler and John Perkins substantiate this clause. I can appreciate a modicum of "free" enterprise or some moderate version of local entrepreneurial capitalism so long as government acts as its antithesis to rope in the likely trespasses that today pass for the basis modus operandi of almost EVERY profit-gorging corporation.
Last night I viewed the film "Errin Brockavich" again and watching the deterioration of the health of those living in a small rural region where toxic wastes were dumped made me cry. The way Bush handcuffed the EPA and set back progress by decades only ensures plenty more families struggling with cancers and deleterious diseases as a result of these unconscionable toxic contacts made in the name of sound business practices.
The 'flaw' in this Death Spiral is that we, the corporate slaves, will awaken
and turn off Rupert's propaganda machine.
America will only start to get it when the Eastern seaboard starts to go under the waves and along with it most of the countries population and major cities, but that is not going to happen any time soon so nobody cares. Americans are not a patient people nor do we plan for stuff long tange. So, nothing is going to be done until a series of really bad things happen to us and I mean really bad and even then if it doesn't affect the wealthy 2% nothing will still be done.
It will then be too late. It may be too late already.
Even then, it will be a sign from god...to vote Republican!
James Earl Carter told us it was time to do something.
When Ronnie took down the solar panels from the White House roof our fate was sealed. Another metaphor that set the tone for the next thirty years was his replacing the portrait of Thomas Jefferson with one of Calvin Coolidge.
Starting then and culminating with the cult of Sarah Palin, the parts of ourselves which believed that reality was whatever we agreed it was assumed a dominate role in our body politic.
All our wars turned into wars against parts of ourselves, war on drugs, poverty, crime, etc. These were not problems to be solved they were Mysteries in which we participated. We took the easy way out, naming scapegoats and building prisons in which they could live----Out of sight, out of mind, problem solved.
"Sweet, sweet vision; foolish, foolish dream."
If the road we are on does not kill us it will surely break our hearts.
What needs to be done is what will NOT be done, by this president or any other of the reigning duopoly. We have no reason to be surprised, since Obama never promised he'd do anything substantive during that absurdly protracted campaign. He just made lots of vague, oratorical statements that for anyone paying attention (not Americans' strong suit) meant next to nothing. But they were obviously enough to stir voters into believing this guy was some marvelous change from the clowns that have occupied the WH for 40 years.
"Nietzsche" has it right about hope (4:58 pm). When we're investing ourselves in nothing but hope, we're lost. Somehow, Obama knew this was how to rope Americans in. We tend to do everything possible NOT to take any effective action, we want TV and movie celebrities to be life's real actors while we passively WATCH. Politicians are just another variety of the Actor species, politics itself being mere theater. All those guys do the acting. Our role is to WATCH, like Chance the Gardener (of Jerzy Kosinski's "Being There"). Once we start trying to act as responsible agents in the world of real events, like taking action on climate change/global warming, we enter that fake world where politicians talk like movie actors but in fact change NOTHING. If we're really serious, like Bill McKibben, we devote absolutely all our energies toward the Cause, get framed as fanatics by the fascist right and become just another object to be gazed upon by the rest of passive America still transfixed by TV/celebrity conditioning.
We need to act in concert on this issue, but like every other issue, the concert is composed of too small an orchestra, and nobody else hears it because the media is in the business of keeping in motion nothing but the TV/celebrity machine and squelching the voice of the people. The climate cause isn't sexy because it involves restricting and curtailing our profligate lifesyles that have caused GW, so the MSM isn't interested. Also, corporate media has a stake in keeping people lazy and confused about it because acting effectively on it threatens corporate bottom lines, which is all it's really about anyway. The corporate economy is all Obama and corporate media care about. If the planet must be sacrificed so AIG and Wall Street, ExxonMobil and Shell can make ever higher profits, then it's expedient to remain indifferent to all the signs of GW and reasons for it. Let the next guy deal with it; Obama's role is cheerleader for resurgent capitalism, just as Bush's role was cheerleader for phony, war-dependent capitalism. So the Big O won't do an damned thing at Copenhagen, if he even bothers showing up. Which I doubt he will.
Obama Has Failed the World on Climate Change...and on peace...and on honesty...and on truth...and on healthcare...and on the bailouts...and on the war...and on the ME issues...and with everything else. So, why should world climate be any different?
Who will be the first to stop shopping for luxuries?
You?
WHo will be the first to stop having children in a world where the population increases at three additional people per second?
You?
Why ponder climate change? It comes from industry. Industry is why you are reading this.
Why ponder climate change when you just got back from shopping for your kids latest toys?
It's all good, right?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses,
And all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
No longer a riddle- because Humpty Dumpty is not an egg- it is this planet- the life that is upon it- that includes humanity and every living thing. The Earth will not crack- but what is upon it is fragile and dying- not even slowly. A genocide of untold proportions is taking place- and we sit, we pray and we conjure and we debate and we do everything but try to prevent the final fall- making it seem so inevitable. We blame our leaders because they are corrupt- and many are- not merely corrupt but lacking wisdom and an awareness beyond their greediness for power. But most of all we need to blame ourselves.
This however is not theology- this is not original sin or guilt- actions can be taken, our words have an effect and we can fulfill our responsibility to life on this planet- to ourselves- and every sentient being- to all life. Nor is this idle intellectualism. This is a struggle for our humanity, because the more we destroy- the less of ourselves remain.
This is not rich versus poor- the poor care the most about nature and the environment. It is the rich, who addicted, care most about losing what they think they love- the dead material things that fill the emotional vacuums in their life.
This is not about truth versus lies- because the former will always prevail over the latter.
This is not about action versus inaction. Inaction is a form of action.
This is not about transformation. Either we become more human or we become the machines we create.
This not about jobs and economies. This is about the future- future generations. It is about what truly makes us wealthy.
This is about compassion- compassion for all life. If we forget the children, we forget ourselves. If we forget the poor, we forgot ourselves. And if we forget ourselves, we cannot remember our connection to nature- for this forms the basis of who we are.
When President Obama accepts his Nobel Peace prize- he has only one choice if he is to be redeemed by history. If and when he goes to Copenhagen- he has only one choice.
This is not the Left versus Right. This is not a media blitz. This is the lives of your children and your children's children. This is the next seven generations. Listen to your children- they know the truth you have forgotten. They have a right to live.
Sioux Rose
LJG: Poignant and powerful post. Thank you.
Our mistake was in believing that what Obama promised was still possible. We knew in our hearts that true progressive reform was no longer possible within the current political and economic context, yet still we wanted to believe. And that belief has worked to destroy the last vestiges of the possibility of progressive reform.
OBAMA FOOLED , SORT OF ,
300 MILLION AMERICANS...PLUS MAYBE A BILLION EUROPEANS...ABOUT "CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN"
BUT HE GOT PLAYED - BIG TIME -
BY 1 BILLION 300 MILLION CHINESE...WHO HE COULDN'T FOOL.
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“China effectively stage-managed President Obama’s public appearances, got him to make statements endorsing Chinese positions of political importance to them and effectively squelched discussions of contentious issues such as human rights and China’s currency policy,” said Eswar S. Prasad, a China specialist at Cornell University.
“In a masterstroke, they shifted the public discussion from the global risks posed by Chinese currency policy to the dangers of loose monetary policy and protectionist tendencies in the U.S.”
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The New York Times
November 18, 2009
CHINA HOLDS FIRM ON MAJOR ISSUES IN OBAMA'S VISIT
By HELENE COOPER
BEIJING — In six hours of meetings, at two dinners and during a stilted 30-minute news conference in which President Hu Jintao did not allow questions, President Obama was confronted, on his first visit, with a fast-rising China more willing to say no to the United States.
On topics like Iran (Mr. Hu did not publicly discuss the possibility of sanctions), China’s currency (he made no nod toward changing its value) and human rights (a joint statement bluntly acknowledged that the two countries “have differences”), China held firm against most American demands.
With China’s micro-management of Mr. Obama’s appearances in the country, the trip did more to showcase China’s ability to push back against outside pressure than it did to advance the main issues on Mr. Obama’s agenda, analysts said.
“China effectively stage-managed President Obama’s public appearances, got him to make statements endorsing Chinese positions of political importance to them and effectively squelched discussions of contentious issues such as human rights and China’s currency policy,” said Eswar S. Prasad, a China specialist at Cornell University. “In a masterstroke, they shifted the public discussion from the global risks posed by Chinese currency policy to the dangers of loose monetary policy and protectionist tendencies in the U.S.”
ARTICLE CONTINUED
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White House officials maintained they got what they came for — the beginning of a needed give-and-take with a surging economic giant.
With a civilization as ancient as China’s, they argued, it would be counterproductive — and reminiscent of President George W. Bush’s style — for Mr. Obama to confront Beijing with loud chest-beating that might alienate the Chinese.
Mr. Obama, the officials insisted, had made his points during private meetings and one-on-one sessions.
“I do not expect, and I can speak authoritatively for the president on this, that we thought the waters would part and everything would change over the course of our almost two-and-a-half-day trip to China,” said Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman. “We understand there’s a lot of work to do and that we’ll continue to work hard at making more progress.”
Several China experts noted that Mr. Obama was not leaving Beijing empty-handed. The two countries put out a five-point joint statement pledging to work together on a variety of issues. The statement calls for regular exchanges between Mr. Obama and Mr. Hu, and asks that each side pay more attention to the strategic concerns of the other. The statement also pledges that they will work as partners on economic issues, Iran and climate change.
But despite a conciliatory tone that began weeks ago when Mr. Obama declined to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, before visiting China to avoid offending China’s leaders, it remains unclear whether Mr. Obama made progress on the most pressing policy matters on the American agenda in China or elsewhere in Asia.
The president has had to fend off criticism from American conservatives that he appeared to soften the American stance on the positioning of troops on the Japanese island of Okinawa, and for bowing to Japan’s emperor.
At a regional conference in Singapore, Mr. Obama announced a setback on another top foreign policy priority, climate change, acknowledging that comprehensive agreement to fight global warming was no longer within reach this year.
Past American presidents have usually insisted in advance on some concrete achievements from their trips overseas. President Bush received vigorous endorsements of his top foreign policy priority, the global war on terrorism, during his visits to Beijing, and President Bill Clinton guided China toward joining the World Trade Organization after prolonged negotiations. When either of those presidents visited the country, China often made a modest concession on human rights as well.
This time, Mr. Hu declined to follow the lead of President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, who, after months of massaging by the Obama administration, now says that he is open to tougher sanctions against Iran if negotiations fail to curb Iran’s nuclear program. The administration needs China’s support if tougher sanctions are to be approved by the United Nations Security Council. But during the joint appearance in Beijing on Tuesday, Mr. Hu made no mention of sanctions.
ARTICLE CONTINUED
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Rather, he said, it was “very important” to “appropriately resolve the Iranian nuclear regime through dialogue and negotiations.” And then, as if to drive home that point, Mr. Hu added, “During the talks, I underlined to President Obama that given our differences in national conditions, it is only normal that our two sides may disagree on some issues.”
White House officials acknowledged that they did not get what they wanted from Mr. Hu on Iran but said that Mr. Obama’s method would yield more in the long term. “We’re not looking for them to lead or change course, we’re looking for them to not be obstructionist,” one administration official said.
In a meeting in Beijing with a senior Chinese official on Wednesday morning, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton again pressed China on Iran. She told the official, Dai Bingguo, that even if China had not decided what sanctions on Iran it would accept, “you need to send a signal,” said a senior American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity so he could describe the exchange.
Mr. Obama did not appear to move the Chinese on currency issues, either. China has come under heavy pressure, not only from the United States but also from Europe and several Asian countries, to revise its policy of keeping its currency, the renminbi, pegged at an artificially low value against the dollar to help promote its exports. Some economists say China must take that step to prevent the return of large trade and financial imbalances that may have contributed to the recent financial crisis.
Mr. Obama on Tuesday could only cite China’s “past statements” in support of shifting toward market-oriented exchange rates, implying that he had not extracted a fresh commitment from Beijing to move in that direction soon.
There are many reasons the White House may have heeded China’s clear desire for a visit free of the polemics that often accompany meetings between leaders of the two countries. Mr. Obama’s foreign policy is rooted in recasting the United States as a thoughtful listener to friends and rivals alike. “No we haven’t made China a democracy in three days — maybe if we pounded our chest a lot that would work,” Mr. Gibbs said in an e-mail message on Tuesday night. “But it hasn’t in the last 16 years.”
Kenneth Lieberthal, a Brookings Institution scholar who oversaw China issues in President Clinton’s White House, agreed. “The United States actually has enormous influence on popular thinking in China, but it is primarily by example,” he said. “If you go to the next step and say, ‘You guys ought to be like us,’ you lose the impact of who you are.”
The National Security Council’s spokesman, Michael A. Hammer, added, “What we did come to do is speak bluntly about the issues which are important to us, not in an unnecessarily offensive manner, but rather in the Obama style of showing respect.”
Mr. Obama, even as he projected a softer image, did nudge the Chinese on some delicate issues.
On Tuesday, standing next to Mr. Hu, Mr. Obama brought up Tibet, where Beijing-backed authorities have clamped down on religious freedom. “While we recognize that Tibet is part of the People’s Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve any concerns and differences that the two sides may have,” he said.
Reporting was contributed by Sharon LaFraniere, Edward Wong, Michael Wines and Mark Landler.
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I tell you. Even the MSM can't hold it back that Obama isn't fooling anyone. I've been to China before a few years ago and I feared that they knew enough of capitalism to lock us up.
I hope CD posts an article by some progressive writer explaining this and their thoughts on the fiasco.
Thanks for the article.
Obama the Black Bush not only failed the world on climate change but on many other issues that concern humanity: peace, economic justice and social equality (for gays and other minorities.) Not the entire world though (we Nader and McKinney supporters saw the crook for the utter scum that he was ages ago!)
Obama's a cancer that needs to be eradicated. An Uncle Tom who threw under the bus Rev. Wright and Van Jones at the first opportunity he had just for being black and speaking the truth. He's a Dick Cheney's and Rush Limbaugh's ass kisser and a menace to African-Americans as much as David Duke has ever dreamed of becoming.