Kerry on Copenhagen - he is clearly pushing Obama to go

[karynnj]

In an interview this morning, Mr. Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who co-sponsored climate and energy legislation in the Senate, argued emphatically that President Obama should speak to delegates at the climate meetings.

Mr. Kerry said that he suspected that the White House has already decided that Mr. Obama would take the short detour to the Danish capital after he accepts the Nobel Peace Price in Oslo on Dec. 10, but was waiting for more clarity on what the Copenhagen meeting might accomplish before announcing the president’s intentions.

“Given the U.S. absence from the discussion for eight years under Bush,” Mr. Kerry said, “to have a new president not appear would attract a lot of negative attention and commentary. He would present a clear target for any failure to achieve a complete agreement at Copenhagen.”

That said, Mr. Kerry said that he believed that the climate summit — despite downgraded expectations — would achieve significant progress toward a binding global agreement that could be concluded next year.

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/kerry-still-optimistic-on-copenhagen/