The Road Ahead

An old British Prime Minister was once asked what were the greatest challenges that a statesman faces. His response was simple: "Events, dear boy, events."
This week we got a tragic and searing reminder from Mumbai, India, of the scope and scale of the challenges that President-elect Obama, his team, and all of us will face in the months and years ahead.
The good news is that this week, Barack Obama passed his first test as President-elect. After ending the era of "my way or the highway" foreign policy on November 4, he put the nail in the coffin this week when he nominated a terrific, talented national security team of thinkers every bit as diverse as they are impressive. Whatever surprises the world holds for America, we can count on the efforts of an all-star team to respond - and deliver.
What we do know is that the next administration will be asked to undertake the tough work of remaking American foreign policy in the (long overdue) post-George Bush era. And as we rethink, it"s time we finally take the full measure of the 21st century threats we face. While a previous generation"s defining security "events" often came internationally--Roosevelt defeating Hitler, Kennedy standing down Khrushchev--today the very definition of national security is being rewritten to include threats that know no borders: global terror, global AIDS--lately--global finance.
These, too, are national security events to be reckoned with. These too will bear the kinds of surprises we once expected only from our Cold War adversaries. And none will be more global in its scope, more urgent in its stakes and timing, or more desperately in need of a complete policy overhaul than global climate change. As the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an architect of the first climate change hearings with Al Gore back in 1988, I"m full of hope that we now stand on the precipice of a new bold era of environmental diplomacy.
Time is short. About seven weeks ago, we learned that carbon dioxide emissions are rising faster than even our leading experts predicted. The latest statistics show that global emissions rose 3% between 2005 and 2007. And while that may not sound like a huge increase, it is faster than the worst-case scenario predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Next week I"ll heading to Poznan, Poland to head the US Congressional Delegation at talks on a new climate change treaty.
I head overseas with a simple message: America is back.
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