Whine-o

Boy, here's something I've gotten tired of: the left-liberal intellectual declaring that he has been betrayed by Obama. Jeffrey Sachs gets on the soapbox: Obama As Climate Change Villain

Obama’s decision to declare a phony negotiating victory undermines the UN process by signaling that rich countries will do what they want and must no longer listen to the “pesky” concerns of many smaller and poorer countries. Some will view this as pragmatic, reflecting the difficulty of getting agreement with 192 UN member states. But it is worse than that. International law, as complicated as it is, has been replaced by the insincere, inconsistent, and unconvincing word of a few powers, notably the US. America has insisted that others sign on to its terms – leaving the UN process hanging by a thread – but it has never shown goodwill to the rest of the world on this issue, nor the ability or interest needed to take the lead on it.

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That stance might well reflect the upcoming 2010 mid-term Congressional elections in the US. Obama does not want to be trapped in the middle of unpopular international negotiations when election season arrives. He may also feel that such negotiations would not achieve much. Right or wrong on that point, the intention seems to be to kill the negotiations. If soothe US does not participate in further negotiations, Obama will prove to have been even more damaging to the international system of environmental law than George Bush was.

Christ, Obama puts in some face-time at a UN Conference that had already gone off the rails and he's already threatening to be "more damaging to the international system than George Bush was?" First of all, the only damage that George Bush did to the "international system" was to make it more difficult for internationalist Americans like Sachs to go to UN cocktail parties. Second, if the Copenhagen Conference - with its star turns by Hugo Chavez and Al Gore denouncing technology and capitalism - is the international system at its best, as Sachs implies, then screw the system.

The real problem with Obama and other lib politicians is the amount of time they spend giving guys like Sachs hope that they support all of their brilliant ideas 100%, but the fact is that they are humoring them just long enough to get their support. That is usually the way of the Left.