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With a couple of sentences, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) stuck a dagger into the heart of any remaining hopes that something useful might come of the climate talks in Copenhagen this December. Okay, so maybe that's a bit melodramatic, but unfortunately it might not be too far off the mark.
Here is what Senator Reid had to say about when the Senate might take up an energy/climate change bill: "We are going to have a busy, busy time the rest of this year. And, of course, nothing terminates at the end of this year. We still have next year to complete things if we have to."
That is absolutely true if the only thing that matters is the Senate's legislative calendar. Maybe it escaped the Senator's attention that there is a big UN climate change meeting coming up in December. You know, that's the one where everyone has been saying that not much will happen without a clear statement of U.S. intentions in the form of legislation.
By announcing ahead of time that climate legislation was off the books fore this session of Congress, Senator Reid cut the legs out from under his own State Department negotiators while at the same time giving the green light to China and India so say and do whatever they want because they now know that the U.S. will not be a player in the talks.
What was it I said just a few days ago: ""politics will determine how the world deals with climate change when negotiations begin at Copenhagen. And politics means politicians, and we all know what that means."
It has come to this: We will have to rely on the kindness of China and India to do the right thing in spite of rather than because of American leadership. We are too busy with our own problems to worry about anyone else's. Sadly typical.
This essay first appeared in Planet Restart
