Elections matter

From this morning's New York Times:

[W]ithin weeks of taking office, President Obama has radically shifted the global equation, placing the United States at the forefront of the international climate effort and raising hopes that an effective international accord might be possible. Mr. Obama's chief climate negotiator, Todd Stern, said last week that the United States would be involved in the negotiation of a new treaty -- to be signed in Copenhagen in December -- "in a robust way."

And a little over a month ago we learned that the Obama administration would "ove swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards" (New York Times).

A climate change couch potato Obama is not.