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President Barack Obama is engaged in a week of diplomatic
activities in New York and Pittsburgh to tackle many of the world's
major challenges. How's he doing?
Climate change
Obama gave the issue high-profile treatment by addressing a UN
climate change summit at UN headquarters in New York, telling his
audience that unless the threat from climate change is confronted,
we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible
catastrophe.
He said his administration had done more in its first eight months
to reduce carbon emissions than the United States had done at any
previous time. But he drew fire from environmentalists for offering
no new proposals.
With European nations impatient for more US action, Obama is
finding rough going on the issue at home. Caught up in a debate
over an overhaul of the US healthcare system, Obama has been unable
to dwell on climate change.
A bill mandating cuts in US emissions is unlikely to be passed by
the US Senate by December as opponents raise concerns over whether
paying for emissions cuts would raise taxes.
Obama made clear the United States is prepared to do its part but
cannot go it alone; saying rapidly growing developing nations that
will produce nearly all the growth in global carbon emissions in
the decades ahead must do their part, as well. It was a message
similar to that of his predecessor, George Bush.
Middle East
Obama managed to bring together for a three-way summit the Israeli
prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian President
Mohammed Abbas. That in itself was no easy feat, which speaks to
the difficult nature of Obama's first major leap into Middle East
peacemaking.
US envoy George Mitchell was in the region last week holding talks
to try to restart peace talks. Mitchell came away with little,
which may be why Obama said it was time for a sense of urgency to
take hold.
"It is past time to talk about starting negotiations. It is time to
move forward," Obama told Netanyahu and Abbas.
Obama managed to coax a handshake between Netanyahu and Abbas.
There was no sign of a breakthrough although Netanyahu noted
afterward there was a general agreement that negotiations should
resume as soon as possible.
Rebalancing the global economy
Ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh late this week that
Obama will host, support grew for a US plan to build a more
balanced global economy.
The idea is to create a new framework in which exporters, which
include China, Germany and Japan, should consume more, while
debtors like the United States ought to boost savings.
One of the concerns the summit countries are grappling with is
whether signs of economic recovery will undermine efforts to
regulate the world financial order as countries return to the old
way of doing business.
