COPENHAGEN CLIMATE CRIME CONFERENCE
Copenhagen: Obama's Waterloo at home and abroad?
Copenhagen: Obama's Waterloo at home and abroad?
examiner.com
Obama Pulling "Victory" From The Jaws Of Defeat
Question: If The Concern On The Left Is Truly Climate Catastrophe, Why Would Obama Compromise The Ultimate Safety Of The World With This Farce Of An Agreement Which Holds Nobody's Feet To The Fire?
Answer: Political Expediency, A Term Used Frequently In Washington. This Phrase Seemingly Makes It Acceptable To Forfeit Any Core Beliefs Or Values, All In The Name Of Remaining In Office. That Or When Trying To Get Signature Legislation Passed When Non-Passage Could Sound A Political Death Knell!
It was billed as a global summit that would result in a binding resolution to control and reduce emissions from countries around the world. Ultimately though, President Obama was forced to run from leader to leader in an effort to attempt to salvage some political face, lest this go down as one more failure for the administration.
With the healthcare bill gutted and on some form of life support, one more policy and diplomatic failure was the last thing that this President, or his party, needed.
Loss of "Face", Loss of Global Standing
At the end of the day, after attempting to use whatever political clout he has left, President Obama walked away with a "non-binding" agreement from only five countries that asks them only for an explanation as to how they will go about reducing emissions. The countries are the United States, India, China, South Africa and Brazil. The other 100+ countries at the Summit refused to sign.
Aware of the strength that even a "binding" agreement would have, this is a transparent political attempt by the President to salvage what is his quickly dwindling popularity and political capital in the U.S. and around the world. This at a time when passage of the unpopular healthcare reform bill needs all that he has got.
Impact At Home On The Obama Domestic Agenda
While the left is predictably calling this a great diplomatic success, nobody is fooled. The need for spin of the Summit debacle is that much greater as the healthcare bill at home faces a self-imposed Christmas deadline for passage. The weaker and less popular that President Obama becomes within the U.S., the greater the chance of voting defections in the Senate where there is no margin for error. As it is, the bill has not completely seen the light of day as the Democrats have cobbled it together behind closed doors. Even in the dysfunctional Senate, there will be holdouts that will refuse to allow a bill whose contents are not fully known to go to a vote. For a bill whose size and impact on the economy and populace would be immense, reading and understanding the content is the least that these Senator's can do for us.
The loss of the clout of the President not withstanding, all polling data shows that the American public does not want this legislation to be enacted. Had the President maintained his 70% approval ratings, the members of his party would be willing to blindly follow him and vote for healthcare reform. As he has slipped below 50% approval, and his leaders in the House and Senate much lower than that, the leverage to force a yes vote has slipped, although still strong.
While most will still go along, particularly given the full-court press being applied by Reid and Pelosi, these are still politicians after all whose main concern is not necessarily legislation and the good of the people, but merely being allowed the privilege to remain in office through the next election cycle.
At least in the case of this healthcare bill, let's hope that political expediency will win out, as it typically does.
Obama Pulling "Victory" From The Jaws Of Defeat
Question: If The Concern On The Left Is Truly Climate Catastrophe, Why Would Obama Compromise The Ultimate Safety Of The World With This Farce Of An Agreement Which Holds Nobody's Feet To The Fire?
Answer: Political Expediency, A Term Used Frequently In Washington. This Phrase Seemingly Makes It Acceptable To Forfeit Any Core Beliefs Or Values, All In The Name Of Remaining In Office. That Or When Trying To Get Signature Legislation Passed When Non-Passage Could Sound A Political Death Knell!
It was billed as a global summit that would result in a binding resolution to control and reduce emissions from countries around the world. Ultimately though, President Obama was forced to run from leader to leader in an effort to attempt to salvage some political face, lest this go down as one more failure for the administration.
With the healthcare bill gutted and on some form of life support, one more policy and diplomatic failure was the last thing that this President, or his party, needed.
Loss of "Face", Loss of Global Standing
At the end of the day, after attempting to use whatever political clout he has left, President Obama walked away with a "non-binding" agreement from only five countries that asks them only for an explanation as to how they will go about reducing emissions. The countries are the United States, India, China, South Africa and Brazil. The other 100+ countries at the Summit refused to sign.
Aware of the strength that even a "binding" agreement would have, this is a transparent political attempt by the President to salvage what is his quickly dwindling popularity and political capital in the U.S. and around the world. This at a time when passage of the unpopular healthcare reform bill needs all that he has got.
Impact At Home On The Obama Domestic Agenda
While the left is predictably calling this a great diplomatic success, nobody is fooled. The need for spin of the Summit debacle is that much greater as the healthcare bill at home faces a self-imposed Christmas deadline for passage. The weaker and less popular that President Obama becomes within the U.S., the greater the chance of voting defections in the Senate where there is no margin for error. As it is, the bill has not completely seen the light of day as the Democrats have cobbled it together behind closed doors. Even in the dysfunctional Senate, there will be holdouts that will refuse to allow a bill whose contents are not fully known to go to a vote. For a bill whose size and impact on the economy and populace would be immense, reading and understanding the content is the least that these Senator's can do for us.
The loss of the clout of the President not withstanding, all polling data shows that the American public does not want this legislation to be enacted. Had the President maintained his 70% approval ratings, the members of his party would be willing to blindly follow him and vote for healthcare reform. As he has slipped below 50% approval, and his leaders in the House and Senate much lower than that, the leverage to force a yes vote has slipped, although still strong.
While most will still go along, particularly given the full-court press being applied by Reid and Pelosi, these are still politicians after all whose main concern is not necessarily legislation and the good of the people, but merely being allowed the privilege to remain in office through the next election cycle.
At least in the case of this healthcare bill, let's hope that political expediency will win out, as it typically does.
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