Obama's Meeting With Medvedev in Copenhagen Video

Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are negotiating a new START treaty (strategic arms reduction treaty).

Andrea Mitchell on the Story Behind Obama's Copenhagen Deal

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D.C. Snowpocalypse

Obama's leaving Copenhagen for D.C. before the snowpocalypse:

Rightwing and Chavez Agree

See how extremists are. Chavez is now suggesting Obama is satan, which puts him in agreement with the Sarah Palin-loving wingnuts. Chavez is comical and childish, calling Obama the "Nobel War Prize:"

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez spoke at the United Nations Climate Change Conference today in Copenhagen, and suggested that President Obama is the devil.
Chávez said that “the Kyoto Protocol cannot be declared dead or extinguished, which is what the US pretends to do. Which is why (President) Evo (Morales of Bolivia) tells a great truth: If Obama, Nobel War Prize, said here, by the way, it smells of sulfur here. It smells of sulfur. It keeps smelling of sulfur in this world. The Nobel War Prize has just said here that he came to act. Well, then show it, sir, don't leave by the back door, eh? Do everything you need to do for the US to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol, and let's respect Kyoto, and empower Kyoto, and respond to the world in a transparent fashion.” ABC

Obama, China and Others Reach Climate Change Agreement

Updated with video of Obama's statement to the press:

Read the transcript.
It's hard enough working with republicans and getting moderate and liberal democrats together. Imagine what it must be like to rally world leaders. Apparently, a climate change deal has been reached, which means we don't have to hear about Obama's lack of prestige for the next week. This climate change deal might not be much, but at least it's a start. Obama is set to outline the deal in a press conference.

The U.S., China, India and South Africa reached a “meaningful agreement” aimed at breaking the logjam on a broader international framework on climate, a senior Obama administration official said Friday.

The official characterized the deal as a first step, but said it was not enough to combat the threat of a warming planet.

Details of the deal with these emerging economies were not immediately clear. MSNBC

Blocked by the Chinese, Gibbs helped get video of Obama and other leaders talking around the table. See that here.

Robert Gibbs Clears Way for American Media in Copenhagen

The Chinese apparently didn't want you to see Obama, China's leaders and others sitting around a table talking. It looks like they worked out a deal around that table:

Reporting from Copenhagen - Key international leaders have reached a tentative deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb climate change, the Los Angeles Times has learned, after the United States and China agreed to a method for recording developing nations' pledges to limit emissions and ensuring those pledges are carried out.

Details of the agreement were approved in an evening meeting with President Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, sources said. LAT

At least we won't have to hear the media jabber for the next week about Obama's prestige taking a hit. Gibbs the enforcer:

Obama's Speech in Copenhagen Dec. 18 Video

The media have characterized Obama's trip to work out a climate change deal as another do or die. "Obama's prestige is on the line," says the media.

Enough with the petty drama.

Obama is spending about 9 hours at the summit, trying to get the Chinese on board. Obama is also meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on an arms control deal.

In this speech he makes similar arguments for climate change as he does healthcare:

Bella Center
Copenhagen, Denmark

12:32 P.M. CET

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. It is an honor for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people. All of you would not be here unless you -- like me -- were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, it is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet. This much we know.

The question, then, before us is no longer the nature of the challenge -- the question is our capacity to meet it. For while the reality of climate change is not in doubt, I have to be honest, as the world watches us today, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now, and it hangs in the balance.

I believe we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of a common threat. That's why I come here today -- not to talk, but to act. (Applause.)

Now, as the world's largest economy and as the world's second largest emitter, America bears our responsibility to address climate change, and we intend to meet that responsibility. That's why we've renewed our leadership within international climate change negotiations. That's why we've worked with other nations to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. That's why we've taken bold action at home -- by making historic investments in renewable energy; by putting our people to work increasing efficiency in our homes and buildings; and by pursuing comprehensive legislation to transform to a clean energy economy.

These mitigation actions are ambitious, and we are taking them not simply to meet global responsibilities. We are convinced, as some of you may be convinced, that changing the way we produce and use energy is essential to America's economic future -- that it will create millions of new jobs, power new industries, keep us competitive, and spark new innovation. We're convinced, for our own self-interest, that the way we use energy, changing it to a more efficient fashion, is essential to our national security, because it helps to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and helps us deal with some of the dangers posed by climate change.

So I want this plenary session to understand, America is going to continue on this course of action to mitigate our emissions and to move towards a clean energy economy, no matter what happens here in Copenhagen. We think it is good for us, as well as good for the world. But we also believe that we will all be stronger, all be safer, all be more secure if we act together. That's why it is in our mutual interest to achieve a global accord in which we agree to certain steps, and to hold each other accountable to certain commitments.

After months of talk, after two weeks of negotiations, after innumerable side meetings, bilateral meetings, endless hours of discussion among negotiators, I believe that the pieces of that accord should now be clear.

First, all major economies must put forward decisive national actions that will reduce their emissions, and begin to turn the corner on climate change. I'm pleased that many of us have already done so. Almost all the major economies have put forward legitimate targets, significant targets, ambitious targets. And I'm confident that America will fulfill the commitments that we have made: cutting our emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020, and by more than 80 percent by 2050 in line with final legislation.

Second, we must have a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and exchange this information in a transparent manner. These measures need not be intrusive, or infringe upon sovereignty. They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible, and that we're living up to our obligations. Without such accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page.

I don't know how you have an international agreement where we all are not sharing information and ensuring that we are meeting our commitments. That doesn't make sense. It would be a hollow victory.

Number three, we must have financing that helps developing countries adapt, particularly the least developed and most vulnerable countries to climate change. America will be a part of fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10 billion by 2012. And yesterday, Secretary Hillary Clinton, my Secretary of State, made it clear that we will engage in a global effort to mobilize $100 billion in financing by 2020, if -- and only if -- it is part of a broader accord that I have just described.

Mitigation. Transparency. Financing. It's a clear formula -- one that embraces the principle of common but differentiated responses and respective capabilities. And it adds up to a significant accord -- one that takes us farther than we have ever gone before as an international community.

I just want to say to this plenary session that we are running short on time. And at this point, the question is whether we will move forward together or split apart, whether we prefer posturing to action. I'm sure that many consider this an imperfect framework that I just described. No country will get everything that it wants. There are those developing countries that want aid with no strings attached, and no obligations with respect to transparency. They think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price; I understand that. There are those advanced nations who think that developing countries either cannot absorb this assistance, or that will not be held accountable effectively, and that the world's fastest-growing emitters should bear a greater share of the burden.

We know the fault lines because we've been imprisoned by them for years. These international discussions have essentially taken place now for almost two decades, and we have very little to show for it other than an increased acceleration of the climate change phenomenon. The time for talk is over. This is the bottom line: We can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward, continue to refine it and build upon its foundation. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be part of a historic endeavor -- one that makes life better for our children and our grandchildren.

Or we can choose delay, falling back into the same divisions that have stood in the way of action for years. And we will be back having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year, perhaps decade after decade, all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is no time to waste. America has made our choice. We have charted our course. We have made our commitments. We will do what we say. Now I believe it's the time for the nations and the people of the world to come together behind a common purpose.

We are ready to get this done today -- but there has to be movement on all sides to recognize that it is better for us to act than to talk; it’s better for us to choose action over inaction; the future over the past -- and with courage and faith, I believe that we can meet our responsibility to our people, and the future of our planet. Thank you very much.

Obama Meets With Al Gore Ahead of Copenhagen

The meeting is scheduled for 4:40 pm eastern, according to Politico. Al Gore has been encouraging Obama to attend climate change talks in Copenhagen, which he will on Dec. 18.

Obama Reschedules Copenhagen for Dec. 18

President Barack Obama is pushing back his trip to Copenhagen in order to be at the international climate talks during the critical negotiating period.

The president was scheduled to attend the conference immediately before receiving his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Dec. 9th but changed his plans after decisions by China and India to curb greenhouse gases boosted the chances for real progress to be made at the talks.

He now plans to travel to the talks on Dec. 18. Politico

Obama to Attend Copenhagen Climate Change Conference Dec. 9

Update Dec. 4: Obama pushes the trip to Dec. 18.

US President Barack Obama will attend the UN climate conference in Copenhagen on December 9, the White House said Wednesday according to international news media.

During the president’s one-day stopover on his way to Oslo, where he will receive the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, Obama is expected to announce a provisional US emissions reduction target of 17 percent from 2005 levels.

This target – the first ever of its kind from a US administration – is in line with pending US climate legislation.

The announcement of Obama’s brief visit to Copenhagen was welcomed by the UN and the Danish conference hosts.

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer told reporters in Bonn that Obama’s attendance was critical.

“The world is very much looking to the United States to come forward with an emission reduction target and contribute to financial support to help developing countries,” he said according to AFP. More at COP15

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Obama Makes His Pitch for the Olympics Video

Update: Chicago knocked out in first round of voting. I suppose Obama will give his best "We did our best" speech at 4 pm today. He can model what a good loser and a good sport looks like.

The IOC decision will be coming at about 11 am eastern. Watch the decision announcement live stream here.
Michelle Obama gives a passionate pitch and then introduces Obama.

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Chicago Mayor Woos Olympics

Michelle Obama arrives in Copenhagen tomorrow morning in hopes of winning the 2016 summer Olympics for the U.S.

First lady Michelle Obama vowed Monday to "take no prisoners" as she and her husband launch an unprecedented bid for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid.

"It's a battle -- we're going to win -- take no prisoners," the first lady said with a smile at a roundtable discussion with reporters in the White House State Dining Room.

She compared the intense lobbying effort to the 2008 presidential campaign, noting that in the election campaign, a lot of voters made their decision in the final days. She said members of the International Olympic Committee may do the same.

"And our view is, we're not taking a chance," she said. "We're just not going to assume that the bids -- that the decisions are made, and so that no matter what the outcome is, we'll feel as a country, as a team, that we've done everything that we can to bring it home." CNN

Obama heads to Copenhagen Oct. 2 for a one-day trip.

Obama to Visit Copenhagen to Champion Chicago 2016 Olympics Bid

Update 9-13: Michelle Obama will lead the delegation. Right now, Obama hasn't committed.
Update: Valerie Jarrett may go instead of Obama.

NBC: The committee hoping to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago has an early commitment from President Barack Obama to be in Copenhagen for its final presentation and the International Olympic Committee vote.

Pat Ryan, chairman of the Chicago 2016 bid, said Monday that Obama plans to attend the meeting in October. Heads of state have been present at meetings more frequently in the past few years. When London overcame favorite Paris to land the 2012 Games, a strong, in-person push by British Prime Minister Tony Blair was viewed as one of the reasons.