Busy Week in the Big Apple for Obama

It's a busy week in the Big Apple for President Obama. You have to admire his guts and his willingness to take on the issues. Today and tomorrow he is going to be busy non stop at the United Nations. In the evenings he'll be at official social events and at night he'll be resting his tired Presidential head in the Presidential suite at the Waldorf Astoria

This morning he got right to work. He addressed the special one-day climate change conference being held at the UN before tomorrow's opening of the General Assembly. This afternoon he will meet with a dizzying array of world leaders and focus on nuclear dis-armament and world peace. Well, good luck is all I can say.

Tomorrow, President Obama will address the General Assembly. He will also chair the meeting of the Security Council -- the first sitting American President ever to do so. There should be lots of shmooze time not to mention tons of photo ops.

Then on Thursday, it's good bye Big Apple and off to Pittsburgh for the meeting of the G20.

The airwaves and the internet are already abuzz with comment and speculation. Obama's speech on climate change this morning( see the video below) was an emphatic clarion call to action filled with beautiful glittering generalities, but short on specifics. In it he called not only on the developed world, but also on the developing nations like China and India to take a larger role in cleaning up the environment. A good move, I think. I'll be watching as tomorrow unfolds.

At the very least, President has now sent a message loud and clear, that unlike his predecessor, George W. Bush, he sees the United Nations as an important player on the world stage and a place where a real exchange of ideas is possible. So far it doesn't look like he is going to get anything going with the Israeli's and Palistinians, nor does it look like he will be able to pull any rabbits out of his hat when it comes to Iran and Afghanistan, but you never can tell.

Like they say in New York, " you gotta be in it to win it" and President Obama is signaling that as far as the United Nations is concerned, the USA is back in the game. It's a good start.