Global climate negotiations in Poznan have stalled badly. Today the chief UN negotiator admitted that the two year process is unlikely to reach a comprehensive agreement when it ends in twelve months time - just a deal on the fundamentals. With the EU dithering over its own climate package the message coming from the negotiators is that they need America to come in and rescue the talks. And they're not talking about George Bush.
The thing is, Obama probably shouldn't listen to them. Not yet.
Here's a summary of the state of the negotations from my colleagues at Greenpeace
This 'why hasn't Obama fixed it yet' request is one the President Elect is going to have to get used to for a few years, but he shouldn't have to. Sarkozy has spent his six months as President of the European Union selling out the climate for political points. Australia, who got plaudits last year for finally signing the Kyoto treaty remain unwilling to make real cuts in their emissions, and Angela Merkels fine words are running into problems whenever she fronts up to Germany's heavy industry. It's a bit rich for the failed leaders of Europe to claim that even before he takes office it's up to Obama to sort things out.
Obama needs to do nothing more than tell these politicians to get serious, stop delaying and remind them that from January 20 he'll be working with them, as a partner, not a saviour.
Its a message he'll have to relay in the Middle East, in Iraq and Afghanistan, just as much as in the climate negotiations. If Obama lets the world get disappointed in him before he starts he'll have a problem. Just because America has got a new leader, doesn't mean everyone else gets to stop trying.