Obama: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

From SolveClimate.com, the Guardian reports that Obama may have to delay signing a Copenhagen climate change degree.

I don't think I've mentioned it here, but an upcoming global summit on climate change is due to occur at Copenhagen soon, and it was hoped that the groundwork for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol (which expires in 2012 and the US never bothered signing anyway) could be worked on and signed.

But Congress, man. Congress. (If you didn't click the article, Obama may have to delay because of opposition in Congress. Go read the story.)

There's a lot of stuff going on here. First, a lot of Democrats are from states heavily dependent on coal and other fossil fuels, so there's worry that they couldn't support climate change legislation (though they should - sustainability and renewables keep us all going in the long run). Second, while Obama could, technically, agree to follow through on his own, it might hurt his what, nine-week-old administration?

I don't honestly know whether the B-man should sign it or not. Obviously, my first choice would be for Congress to be on-board for the completely-necessary reinvention of our way of life. Barring that, though, I think I might still be enthralled enough by our new president to go with his reasoning (which is that the government will be in a better position to fight the good fight in six months, and Kyoto doesn't run out for 2.5 years anyway). And I certainly understand that Obama has some other stuff on his plate - his budget, health care, so on and so on.

But at a certain point, there will be members of Congress who, because of ideology, money from oil/coal companies, distrust, or their own warped world view, refuse to go along with any climate legislation - and a certain point, action needs to be taken against them. I don't mean we should like, take them out back and shoot them (that would be mean) - but someone should be standing up and asking them whether they, at long last, have no sense of decency. After all, they're firmly obstructing action on one of the biggest issues of our time.


UPDATE

The Onion understands me. I love The Onion.