Mr. Obama has received his latest lesson on the topic: “Governing is harder than it looks.”

It was all so easy back during the heady days of the campaign when it all seemed to come down to Mr. Obama, his teleprompter, and crowds of thousands of people who desperately wanted to believe that every problem in the world could be solved with a catchy slogan.

Then everything began to unravel in February. The bloated bailout was a failure and insanely expensive; the unemployment rate shot through every White House “worst case” estimate; one presidential appointment after another was entangled in scandals surrounding their extremist views; and ‘health care’ collectivization which 'had to be approved by the August recess' was only through a House of Representatives under lock-and-key control of the President’s own party three months after the deadline, and only then by the slimmest of majorities.

To add insult to injury, Mr. Obama couldn’t even bring serious consideration to the idea of the Olympics being held in Chicago — despite Oprah’s assistance.

Now, reality may be setting in once again, as cap-and-trade stalls in the Senate, and Al Gore’s vision of a green future enforced by “collective will” gets pushed away from the cameras in Copenhagen.

As John Broder opined for The New York Times,

President Obama came into office pledging to end eight years of American inaction on climate change under President George W. Bush, and all year he has promised that the United States would lead the way toward a global agreement in Copenhagen next month to address the warming planet.

But this weekend in Singapore, Mr. Obama was forced to acknowledge that a comprehensive climate deal was beyond reach this year. Instead, he and other world leaders agreed that they would work toward a more modest interim agreement with a promise to renew work toward a binding treaty next year.

The admission places Mr. Obama in the awkward position of being, at least for now, as unlikely to spearhead an international effort to combat global warming as his predecessor — if for different reasons.

In Mr. Bush’s case, he remained skeptical about the science of global warming until near the end of his presidency and dubious about the need for concerted global action.

And his reluctance was echoed by a Congress that wanted to see clear commitments from developing countries like China.

But Mr. Obama has been a champion of climate change regulation. He has moved unilaterally to limit greenhouse gases from vehicles and large sources such as coal-burning power plants. And in recent months, China, India, Brazil and some other developing countries have issued promises to slow the growth of emissions, although with the knowledge that a binding treaty to enforce such pledges will not take effect for at least several years.

Yet Mr. Obama has found himself limited in his ambitions by a Congress that is unwilling to move as far or as fast as he would like.

Perhaps it is hard for Mr. Broder to have his hero letting him down like this; his previous articles have taken the Senate to the woodshed in the past for failing to deliver on cap-and-trade, and his non-exposé on Dr. Alan Carlin certainly did not bring an end to the presence of vocal skepticism of anthropogenic climate change within the ranks of the federal government.

Certainly the Internationalists and radical environmentalists expected Mr. Obama to offer up the American economy on the altar of a global green economy. Petulant whining from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon probably haven’t helped the cause, but they have highlighted the growing desperation for an American commitment to participate in the vast transfer of wealth — perhaps as much as $400 billion a year — from the First World to the Third World which is the heart of the proposed Copenhagen agreement.

According to Broder, IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri is continuing to stamp his feet in rage at the political impotence of the candidate of “hope and change”:

Rajendra K. Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the compromise agreed to by the leaders in Singapore was an honest admission of what had become obvious over the past several weeks, as negotiations toward a climate treaty stalled.

But he said the admission was a severe disappointment from President Obama and the other leaders.
“It signifies an abandonment of moral responsibility that a position of leadership on the world stage clearly implies,” Mr. Pachauri said in an e-mail message, adding that the scientific consensus on global warming demanded immediate action, not stalling tactics.

Having fallen for the demand for “immediate action” once this year already with the disastrous bailout, the demand that the United States shut up, stop thinking, and get out the checkbook falls flat when the checks Uncle Sam has already written are backed by nothing but promises to steal from our grandchildren.

If cap-and-trade is in trouble in the Democrat-controlled Senate, it is because Senators of the President’s own party perceive that the proposed legislation is politically untenable and environmentally unnecessary. They will, of course, emit the right “environmentally-friendly” noises when confronted by one of Al Gore’s green collectivist brigades, but many of them know they will be facing the voters next year — and that is a prospect that frightens them far more than climate change fairy tales and the plans of people who want to save the earth for a “posthuman” future.

Less than a year into his term, with an inconceivable federal deficit and skyrocketing unemployment, and an enraged electorate, how many Senators are wondering whether casting a “green” vote will mean receiving a “pink” slip?

Rt. Rev. James Heiser has served as Pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Malone, Texas, while maintaining his responsibilities as publisher of Repristination Press, which he established in 1993 to publish academic and popular theological books to serve the Lutheran Church.  Heiser has also served since 2005 as the Dean of Missions for The Augustana Ministerium and in 2006 was called to serve as Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA). An advocate of manned space exploration, Heiser serves on the Steering Committee of the Mars Society. His publications include two books; The Office of the Ministry in N. Hunnius' Epitome Credendorum (1996) and A Shining City on a Higher Hill: Christianity and the Next New World (2006), as well as dozens of journal articles and book reviews.

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rprew said:

... Obama is an arrogant and egotistical narcissist who needs several slices of humble pie and a few slaps to the backside of the head. Copenhagen is one small slice. Let's give him another, larger slice by killing cap and trade. We can follow that up with a slap to the backside of the head by killing Obamacare. In the 2010 elections, we can give him an entire pie and half a dozen slaps by voting in a Congress that has an intent to obey the Constitution.

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November 18, 2009
Votes: +7

Pat Henry said:

	keep fire on the feet This article is a well done piece of encouragement. Let us not now sit back, but remember that it is the town hall protests, the incessant letter writing and calling that has helped produce these results, and keep it up. (And thank you, JBS, for making that task easier via your web page information and links to write Congress.)
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November 18, 2009
Votes: +7

DDW said:

	Goog and Good Let's just hope we can get this arrogant fop out of office in the next election.
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November 19, 2009
Votes: +1

DDW said:

	Oops My title should have read "Good and Good". A stroke did not help my typing abilities.
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November 19, 2009
Votes: +2

Still Free said:

	Yes, "Good and Good" and Very Good! DDW, have no fear, we knew what you meant. Let's sweep out all the dirt and trash in 2010 and again in 2012. Take America Back!
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November 19, 2009
Votes: +1