Before giving his 8 minute remarks about the imperfect but necessary international accord being offered in Copenhagen, Obama wanted to explain his strategy in private to the presidents of all of the big-boy nations and the heads of state currently trying to hold up the developed world for trillions in green subsidies. His message: you can still look good backing a bad plan.

Writers John Broder and Elisabeth Rosenthal explain that Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao spurned Obama’s offer of a pre-speech huddle, meaning that it may as well have not happened since China is on its way to becoming the world’s biggest polluter.

“Negotiators here worked through the night, charged with delivering a draft of the political agreement by 8 a.m. ahead of the arrival of dozens of heads of state and high-level ministers for the final stretch of deliberations.

An American negotiator, weary from a night of negotiations, expressed confidence early Friday that the talks would produce some form of an agreed declaration, even if it falls short of the ambitions of many delegates and lacks specifics on some of the toughest issues.”

Wall Street Journal — Sen. Nelson Holds Up Health Bill

Republicans had fun Wednesday making Democrats actually read legislation, but the real cause for pause in the Senate is that Democrats haven’t reached a deal. The Senate is moving on to a year-end defense appropriations bill until Saturday as Majority Leader Harry Reid tries to whip his caucus into shape.

We don’t know who is objecting behind closed doors, but Nebraska’s Ben Nelson, who opposes abortion and some tax increases, is the most public of the skeptics right now. Reid is trying to spur action by imposing a hideous, around-the-clock schedule on the Senate through Christmas, but few believe right now that Reid can make his year-end deadline.

“With Mr. Nelson’s vote in doubt, President Barack Obama met with Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, the lone Republican to show interest in supporting the package, to see if she would back the bill. Sen. Snowe is an abortion-rights supporter.

‘He’d prefer to get this moving,’ Sen. Snowe said. She added that she urged the president to postpone action and use ‘part of January’ to deal with her concerns, which include a proposal to establish a new long-term care program. ‘The time frame is totally unrealistic,’ she said of the push for a vote by Christmas.”

Washington Post — Six Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to be repatriated

The Obama administration may be escalating the war in Afghanistan and letting the pharmaceutical industry write its health legislation, but at least liberals will get to see the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorists closed.

The president is preparing to import the worst of the worst to a prison in Illinois, but is also sending enemy combatants from Yemen, the backwater of Arabia where al Qaeda operates openly and the USS Cole was bombed, back home.

The Bush administration sent more than a dozen Yemenis back but kept the rest – more than 96 of the 210 prisoners of war – at Guantanamo because of the risks of them rejoining the fight and insufficient cooperation from the government in Sana’a.

Writers Peter Finn, Sudarsan Raghavan and Julie Tate explain that Obama officials believe they have gotten the government there on board with the plan and can start shipping out those Yemenis captured by American forces, beginning with a fits batch of six enemy fighters.

The lawyer for the soon-to-be released militants heralded the deal said “you can’t solve the Guantanamo problem without solving the Yemeni problem.” That’s bad news because they’ve been trying to solve the “Yemeni problem” since the Ottoman Empire. It would be like trying to solve the problem of running out of gas by inventing an alternative to the internal combustion engine. It won’t get you home in time for dinner.

“The Obama administration attempted to forge a deal with Saudi Arabia that would allow Yemeni detainees to attend its highly regarded rehabilitation program. But Saudi officials said the program, which relies on strong family and tribal involvement, was ill-suited for Yemenis.

Officials in Yemen, the poorest Arab nation, insist that they need financial assistance from the United States to successfully reintegrate returning detainees.”

Washington Post — Democratic congressman from North Carolina angers supporters by voting against health-care bill

Writer Philip Rucker went looking for a way to support the president’s argument to his party that it would be politically risky to oppose generally unpopular initiatives like his health-care plan because it would dispirit liberal backers and suppress core turnout in 2010.

Apparently failing to find anything that would back that up, Rucker went with freshman Democrat Larry Kissell, elected from the North Carolina district that covers the western Charlotte suburbs up into the Appalachian foothills, including the home of stock car racing.

Kissell ran twice for Congress, getting edged by five-term Republican incumbent Robin Hayes in 2006 but winning by 10 points in 2008 thanks to historically high black turnout and low Republican turnout.

Rucker focuses on how national liberal bloggers and local Democratic activists are mad because Kissell voted against the House health care bill that passed in November.

I would suspect that the health plan is less popular in Kissell’s district than it is nationally, which is saying something about a plan that less than a third of Americans think is a good idea.

I would also suspect that if the GOP nominates anyone with a strong pulse and a limited criminal record, Kissell is likely toast next year, however he voted on health care.

Rucker seems to acknowledge this possibility but argues that Kissell was sent to do the bidding of the Daily Kos and AFSCME, not represent the interests of all his constituents.

“What Kissell considers a principled stand over Medicare, some of his constituents view as a classic Washington betrayal. And his vote threatens to fray the coalition that propelled him to victory. Many Democrats here gave him money and knocked on doors for him because they saw in him a break with the partisanship of Robin Hayes, his Republican predecessor.

In one vote, that sense of possibility was dashed, as many local party leaders said they think Kissell has become transformed by the sometimes dirty business of governing and the compromising quest for reelection.”

Wall Street Journal — States Scramble to Close New Budget Gaps

Writer Amy Merrick explains how the end of the year is an unhappy time for governors looking ahead to budget wastelands in 2010. With no prospects of another round of stimulus, dreadful tax returns, and the possibility of getting an unfunded Mediciad mandate dropped in their laps by Congress, governors are being forced to consider draconian tax increases and spending cuts for government programs and firing state workers. Talk about dispiriting the Democratic base!

“A Dec. 2 report from the budget officers’ group and the National Governors Association said states have cut $55.7 billion from budgets in the current fiscal year, which for most began July 1. Even with the cuts, deficits total $14.8 billion. States’ general-fund spending is expected to decline 5.4%, the sharpest drop since data collection began in 1979, the groups said.

States also have enacted tax and fee increases expected to raise $23.9 billion, the largest hike the group has recorded.”

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