Copenhagen Alert: Obama’s Speech Flops, Summit in Crisis

He came, he saw, he disappointed. As President Barack Obama arrived in Copenhagen on Friday morning for the last day of the U.N. climate summit, all eyes were upon him. Only Obama, the argument went, had the power and prestige to break the deadlock at this summit, widely regarded as humanity’s last good chance to preserve a livable climate. But hopes that the president would bring something new to Copenhagen, that the U.S. position would move closer to what science says is required to avoid catastrophic climate change, were dashed by the president’s surprisingly lackluster remarks. Looking tired from his overnight flight from Washington, Obama told his fellow heads of state and government, “I did not come here to talk. I came here to act.” But Obama’s speech for the most part merely restated what has long been the U.S. position: a mere 4 percent reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, when science says reductions of at least 25 to 40 percent are necessary. Obama did not put it this way, of course. He said that the U.S. will cut emissions by 17 percent by 2020, in line with the Waxman-Markey climate bill that passed the House of Representatives over the summer. But the U.S. has moved the goalposts. By employing a baseline of 2005, rather than the international scientific standard of 1990, Washington makes its proposed emissions cuts look much larger than they actually are. It’s like promising to kick a 50-yard field goal from the 30 yard line.