Ray Charles Ray Ban For A Better World

Speaking to the World: American and French commitments on Global Challenges

On a day that celebrates immortal Ray Charles’ birthday, President Obama makes his first address to the United Nations General Assembly at the Climate Change Summit held by the U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-moon. This Summit is taking place in New York less than 3 months before the Copenhagen conference takes place and where a broader climate pact to replace the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol will be negotiated.

Seventy-nine years ago today, the legendary voice Ray Charles was born in Albany. His natural talent, soul and charisma are not without reminding the frequently emphasized skills of the new President of the United States, Barack Obama. What a coincidence then, that today Obama's first address to the U.N. General Assembly stands for a better America and calls for more global cooperation to face the global challenges? “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.” President Obama said, renewing the United States commitment to the United Nations.

Ray CharlesRay Charles was blind, but certainly not to the beauty of the nature, which he celebrated in his song America, The beautiful. Indeed, one can feel the deep and universal passion that trickle from each note of these beautiful lines:

“Oh beautiful, for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties,

Above the fruited plain.”

Today, President Barack Obama indorses the impact of Ray Charles’ words by reaffirming the commitment of America in the fight against carbon emissions. He also finds an echo in France President Nicolas Sarkozy’s position on climate change. The latter came to New York in order to defend the French position on the topic, and to develop his proposals on financial regulation issues. This week in the United States is crucial for Nicolas Sarkozy, for both important topics that will be treated and the future of the world. This might explain why, just arrived in New York, the hyperactive French President, well-known for his Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses style, directly pulled on his jogging shorts, and went to find energy to endorse his determination to talk straight and get things done.

The first step of his American week was about the climate change issues at the United Nations Summit. Considering how complex the negotiation is, Sarkozy proposed on Tuesday that heads of state from major economies previously meet in November to discuss the agenda ahead of December's conference in Copenhagen. According to him, the proposed November meeting would allow the world's leaders “to make clearer commitments to ensure Copenhagen's success”. No doubt that America and France Presidents tuned their positions on climate change to face together this global challenge.

However, this harmony between both Presidents might face wrong notes on the financial regulation issue that will be discussed at the G20 summit held in Pittsburgh on September 24th to 25th.

Ray Charles felt with anticipation the contemporary financial pain that one can face in these Crisis times, lamenting in his Busted song the distress of a wrecked man:

“A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day

The county's gonna haul my belongings away cause I'm busted.”

Seeking what can be done to prevent a repeat of the worst crisis in decades in the future; France President Nicolas SarkozyNicolas Sarkozy will defend his position on more control on global markets, at the agenda of his American week. As a matter of fact, he will join the world’s leaders’ summit in Pittsburgh for 2 days of negotiations on the financial regulation reform, especially on the topic of traders’ bonuses. Sarkozy stands for building a more regulated capitalism: according to him, global leaders need to press further for tighter banking and financial regulation after the credit crunch that hit the world last year and caused the recession. In Pittsburgh, Nicolas Sarkozy will seek to draw support for proposals to cut back on pay for financial executives and design stricter corporate accounting rules.

Contrarily to the position he adopted at the London G20 Summit, Nicolas Sarkozy tries to emphasize his “convergence” with the White House: “We agree on 80 % of the topics, and the rest is minor” affirms the Elysée. However, the negotiation on the regulation of financial bonuses might be tough and uncertain: “London was a very complex negotiation, but Barack ObamaBarack Obama adopted a very open-minded attitude. This time, it is different; he is under the pressure of the Congress and the opinion” admitted a counselor of the President. Indeed, if Obama certainly lobbied for stronger financial regulations, calling for "new rules of the road", momentum for such changes has fallen off as the economy appears to be turning back to health.

Marie Barriere