Barack Obama
-
![]()
![]()
How Obama could use his jobs speech to win both domestically and internationally
Obama is under pressure on two fronts: the international community wants him to commit to serious greenhouse gas emission reductions and American voters want him to spur job creation. Unemployment is hovering at 10 percent and there is populist anger afoot in the country, not just among tea baggers but among people from both parties […]
-
Obama’s double Copenhagen stunner
Again, anyone who thinks there’s not going to be a bipartisan climate bill in the spring or an international deal coming out of Copenhagen isn’t paying attention: Citing progress on many issues, the White House said Friday that President Obama had shifted the date he would appear at the United Nations climate change conference in […]
-
![]()
![]()
The physics of Copenhagen: Why politics-as-usual may mean the end of civilization
Cross-posted from TomDispatch. Most political arguments don’t really have a right and a wrong, no matter how passionately they’re argued. They’re about human preferences — for more health care or lower taxes, for a war to secure some particular end or a peace that leaves some danger intact. On occasion, there are clear-cut moral issues: […]
-
![]()
![]()
What does it mean that Obama is going to Copenhagen at the end of the climate talks? [UPDATED]
We asked our expert panel about the significance of President Obama changing the timing of his visit to the Copenhagen climate talks, from Dec. 9, the middle of the first week, to Dec. 18, the big finale at the end of the second week. Is this a big deal? What does it mean? Here are […]
-
![]()
![]()
In last-minute stunner, Obama changes plans to attend final day of Copenhagen talks
On Friday, the Obama administration announced a startling shift in plans: rather than stop by the Copenhagen climate talks on Dec. 9, Obama will be going on the 18th, the final day of the meeting — a notable increase in commitment (and political exposure) from the administration. The first week of every COP meeting consists […]
-
Graham says Obama has his back on climate bill
Sen. Lindsey Graham may be under fire from conservatives back home in South Carolina. But the Republican got a personal assurance from President Obama yesterday that the White House is supporting his efforts to craft a sweeping Senate energy and global warming bill. “The president told me personally he was very open, that nuclear power […]
-
‘An overwhelming bias toward inaction’
Anyone who wants any kind of reform in this country need to grapple with Ezra Klein’s important and clearly argued insight into our current system of “government”: The U.S. Congress is hostile not only to liberal power, but also to conservative power, and for that matter, to majority governance. The rules trump the election, trump […]
-
The American worker: An endangered species
To the iconic image of a polar bear struggling onto a crumbling ice floe, or that of a condor chick peering from its human-made nest, we must add another image: that of an American worker at his or her trade. Endangered species are a concern to all environmentalists, and the plight of the worker should […]
-
President Obama, give us hope again … this time in Copenhagen
On Nov. 4 2008, I was an American in Brussels as I watched Barack Obama turn red states blue and win the Presidency of the United States (not to worry, I waited in a two-hour line to vote absentee before I left the States!). I’ll never forget the next morning, having coffee with a close […]
