There's no doubt that with this conference, Bush is renegging on real leadership by way of meaningless rhetoric and empty symbolism. Much like saying "Mission Accopmlished", "Bring it on!", "Stay the course"... all fine words buth with no relation whatever with the facts on the ground. Iraq was meant to be epoch-shaping, and it could have been; but if you're going to change the world, for the better, then you'd better put a little planning into it. And so it goes with Global Warming, aparently: turn up the rhetoric, and let the details slide...

Still, think about where you were exactly one year ago today. Did you, in your wildest dreams, think that George Bush would be organizing a "climate conference"? That has to be something. What, I'm not so sure. But it's something.

While I definitely feel the delegates' frustration at being led around the Bush yet again with his empty grandstanding, this conference does also give me hope. Not only is Bush going to be out of office soon, he's obviously being overtaken by world events. This lame duck is being increasingly marginalized both within and outside his country, while the momentum for action on climate chage is growing steadily, and the movement is already strong enough, clearly, to withstand--and ignore-- this delayerist nonsense.