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White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 4/16/08 (President's Remarks on Climate Change)
— Wednesday, April 16, 2008 — Q Dana? MS. PERINO: Anybody else? (Laughter.) Q Dana? MS. PERINO: It is hot in here. (Laughter.) Okay, I'm going to go to Elaine since she hasn't had one at all. Q Well, can I just go back to -- I know Jim is not here, but just on sort of the timing of the climate change speech, the announcement today, was there any thought that perhaps the message on that might be overshadowed on such a day as this? MS. PERINO: We worked hard to figure out a day that we could do it, and the policy process was -- it's a complex issue and one that we were working on for quite a while. And we were not ready to go, but we knew we needed to get it done before the meeting tomorrow in Paris, in which Dan and Jim will be there. But the President wanted to make this announcement before they went to this major economies meeting so that we could continue to show the leadership and encourage other countries that, when they're ready, to put forward their national goal. Q And can I just clarify something that Jim said? So he was essentially saying, if I understood him correctly, that the practical effect in the administration's eyes of the President setting this national goal today, even though he does have less than a year in office, is to basically provide a place for the next President to kind of take over, the thinking being, what we've heard on the campaign trail is that the next President will be willing to sort of pick up where this President leaves off. Is that what the administration believes will happen here? MS. PERINO: Well, I think, Elaine, just look -- we're mindful of the clock. But look back to May -- last May, 2007, when the President first announced that he would start this post-Kyoto conversation. And he said, I will lead this effort, and I will lead it in a way that keeps China and India at the table, which is critical for having the political consensus, for everyone to have the will to actually move forward and get this done. Otherwise it is going to fall apart. We said at that time, and then in September 2007, that we want every country to agree to establish intermediate and then a long-term goal, and then that the plans of those goals would not be finalized until the end of 2009. So we had already said last May and then in September that we knew that this was going to be a process that would take a while, but it is a post-2012 conversation. And so, yes, the next President is going to have to deal with this. But so is the Congress. I mean, this is just something that the world is going to have to deal with for quite a while to come. Q Again, a non-binding goal -- I mean, some people might look at that -- MS. PERINO: You need to look back at the September 2007 statement because through the major economies meeting process, in order to keep this process on track, and by having China and India at the table, that's how you do that. We will be able to collectively agree on a goal that all of us will be held accountable by under the United Nations framework. Dana Perino | Global Warming | President Bush | Press Briefing | White House Press Corps Labels: Dana Perino, Global Warming, President Bush, Press Briefing, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 7:42 PM
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