Today, at another international gathering, Mrs. Whitman seemed to have had less success still. With the White House having abandoned any pretense of support for the most far-reaching international treaty intended to tackle the problem, she heard mostly dismay and disappointment from counterparts who called the stand an enormous setback on an issue that should allow little room for patience.
Climate change is a critically important problem, and it's too important to start from scratch.
For her part, Mrs. Whitman tried to put a forward-looking outlook on the American position. For Mrs. Whitman, the former New Jersey governor, the day's appearance could not have been easy. In a confidential memorandum to President Bush after her trip to Italy, she had explicitly recommended that the administration avoid being seen as opposed to the Kyoto accord. And when that advice was overruled, administration officials sympathetic to her position said, she had asked in vain at the State Department and the White House for specific instructions about what more she might tell American friends and allies about what the new administration position might be. Mexico's environment minister, Victor Lichtinger, was among several delegates who said he had no doubt that the American abandonment of the Kyoto accord would greatly complicate efforts to find common ground on the issue.