Analysing President Obama's Address to the United Nations General Assembly

There were many positives in Barrack Obama's speech to the United Nations on the 24th September. The US President outlined the importance of the UN as an institution and more importantly its function as a forum through which the nations of the world can collectively address shared problems. He reaffirmed America's commitment to an "era of engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect" and to seeking "the goal of a world without nuclear weapons".

However... 

As Joshua Keating points out on his Foreign Policy blog, "it seems telling that President Obama ended his first major address on climate change not with a stirring call to action, but by urging pragmatism and compromise". Obama's assertion that "if we are flexible and pragmatic; if we can resolve to work tirelessly in common effort, then we will achieve our common purpose" will certainly ring alarm bells regarding the nature of a US climate bill which may not be comprehensive enough to inspire the required outcome at Copenhagen. For although Obama is correct that nations must address problems collectively, he is equally correct in highlighting the existence of, " hope that real change is possible and the hope that America will be a leader in bringing about such change."