Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Obama: "I will not rush Copenhagen decision!"

Update: Please note, the following post was written tongue-in-cheek, based on articles written in the AP and Times Online. Sorry, if you were confused.

Background material here, here, here, here and here:

From the A&P:

President Obama pledged on Monday not to rush a decision on whether to attend the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen, as he weighs his options on what to do next in the troubled war on Climate Change.

"I won't put my political legacy in harms way unless it is absolutely necessary and until I am assured there will be a major breakthrough at the summit," Obama told a group of UN envoys and Greenpeace activists at the White House on Monday. He promised that if he ultimately decides to attend the summit it would be with defined goals and the manpower needed to get the job done.

Obama, who is in the process of weighing options put forward by his Green Energy adviser, that includes skipping the summit and delivering a video address from the Oval Office - while pledging to increase carbon taxes here in the US - spoke of the possible dangers and sacrifices of traveling to Copenhagen - including a failed summit, which would be detrimental to the Obama legacy, and frittering away valuable time that could be better spent here in the US pushing forth his health care initiative.

Last week, Danish climate minister Connie Hedegaard prodded Obama to make a swift decision on his Climate Change strategy.

"The White House must stop 'dithering' while the Earth's environment is in danger," she said . "It's time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity."

But Obama did not tip his hand on how he might decide.

"I will never rush the solemn decision of sending myself into harm's way and jeopardizing my presidential legacy," he said.

"But, if it is necessary," Obama added, "I will travel to Copenhagen to defend our environment from the forces of evil."

Obama stood on a stage under a huge UN flag as he addressed the enthusiastic crowd of UN officials and Greenpeace activists.

"By being here, you join a long, unbroken line of brave heroes who sacrificed their lives for the Earth's environment," he said.

"Thank you for reminding us of the kind of activists and scare-mongerers we can and must always be," Obama said, drawing boisterous applause from the wild-eyed, eco-conscious crowd.

1 comment:

Wes Hammond said...

this recent Greenpeace ad campaign seems to be successful as far as ad-campaigns go; even those who are voicing their objections are providing more publicity for the project in effect