Bush Makes Everyone Mad on Global Warming

I've just about come to the conclusion that the Bush administration is in such disarray that whatever they do, it's almost guaranteed to be the wrong thing. Their latest effort is the change of heart on global warming, which doesn't please the base he used to have, and certainly doesn't please the Euroweenies:

Germany and the European Commission reacted angrily to President George W. Bush’s apparent change of heart on climate change on Friday, setting the stage for a stormy G8 summit of rich industrialised countries next week.

A spokesman for Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor and current G8 president, said Germany’s stance that climate talks should take place within the United Nations was “non-negotiable”. Stavros Dimas, the EU environment commissioner, dismissed the proposals for climate talks as vague and “the classic US line”.

Mr Bush on Thursday appeared to suggest a parallel process to the UN, by which the world’s 15 biggest emitters of greenhouse gases would within 18 months “establish a new framework on greenhouse gases when the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012” and “set a long-term global goal on reducing emissions”.

His proposal marked a reversal of the US policy of refusing to discuss emissions cuts and rejecting a global framework such as Kyoto.

But the plans are starkly different from the proposal tabled by Germany for next week’s G8 summit, which would require leaders to agree to prevent global temperatures rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius and require stringent emissions cuts.

Attitudes within Europe hardened on Friday as some politicians and activists accused Mr Bush of trying to wreck next week’s summit, and UN negotiations on climate change, set to take place this December.

If it wrecks next week's summit that might not be such a bad thing, but putting the fate of the U.S. in the hands of the UN is just stupid. The President needs to listen to his own NASA administrator who has recently made the most sane comments on the subject of global warming. It may be happening, but it's not something we need to do anything about.