Obama May Go to Copenhagen

"President Obama may attend world climate talks in Copenhagen this December, marking the first visit to the annual U.N. conference by a sitting U.S. president since George H.W. Bush's 1992 trip to Rio de Janeiro.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters yesterday that Obama is considering a visit to the global warming negotiations, where diplomats hope to reach agreement on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

'As you know, the second week of December there will be a major conference on global warming to which the president may go,' the Maryland Democrat said. 'I will probably go with him if that occurs.'

Obama's attendance at the conference would cause a stir following President George W. Bush's often contentious relationship with the United Nations on climate issues. U.S. diplomats were booed at the 2007 meeting in Bali, Indonesia."


Darren Samuelsohn reports for Greenwire in the New York Times June 4, 2009.