Paris Climate Conference really should be held at Versailles

There is a distinct “Let them eat cake” aspect to the COP 21 climate conference to which President Obama jets off today. In the name of reducing carbon emissions, Air Force One and various support aircraft have made and will make multiple journeys across the Atlantic. Lifestyle compromises are for the little people, you see, who are expected to pay more for electricity, downsize their vehicles (if they can keep a carat all), shiver in the winter and sweat in the summer. And the agreements the world leaders are expected to reach: they are startlingly and increasingly unpopular with the citizens they allegedly serve:

Public support for a strong global deal on climate change has declined, according to a poll carried out in 20 countries. Only four now have majorities in favour of their governments setting ambitious targets at a global conference in Paris. In a similar poll before the Copenhagen meeting in 2009, eight countries had majorities favouring tough action. The majority Senate Republicans are warning an increasingly imperious Obama that he is not a Sun King: Capitol Hill Republicans are aiming to take the air out of President Obama’s push for a global climate deal…warning they will block vital funding if he tries to circumvent Congress. And in the ultimate sign of severe detachment from reality worthy of the partygoers of Versailles in 1796, Obama is presenting the gala gathering as a “powerful rebuke” to ISIS. Let them eat computer models.