German Chancellor Angela Merkel Pushes Congress on Climate Change

Yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to a special bicameral (update: the correct adjective here is "joint") session of Congress, the first German leader to do so since 1957. And, when she addressed Congress, Chancellor Merkel told our august legislators that they need to get their act together on climate change. Which is pretty dead on given how some Senators are actively trying to get that act to stay apart. Reuters talk about Chancellor Merkel's stern words:

"We have no time to lose," Merkel said, referring to a U.N. climate conference next month in Copenhagen, where countries will be trying to forge a successor to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012. "We need an agreement on one objective -- global warming must not exceed two degrees Celsius," she said. "To achieve this, we need the readiness of all countries to accept internationally binding obligations."

The chances are getting slimmer and slimmer that the United States will have a climate change bill completed by the Copenhagen Conference, which may actually prevent the American delegation from signing a treaty (the negotiators will not sign any treaty that our legislators have approved). In meeting with Chancellor Merkel, President Obama referenced climate change as "potential catastrophe," so I'm interested to see what instructions our negotiators will be given if there is no climate change bill passed. I'm starting to fear Kyoto all over again.

Oh, also, this line from the article:

She acknowledged that the allies have had differences, saying Americans sometimes viewed Europeans as "hesitant and fearful," while Europeans saw Americans as overly "headstrong and pushy."

Ha.

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