The fair-and-balanced Revkin defends Obama not going to Rio: If Bush was still president, would Revkin be offering this same defense?

Dispatches from Rio: None from Obama? - NYTimes.com

When Hockenberry asked why Obama isn’t going, I offered this hypothesis:

It’s impossible to think about having substantial initiatives move forward when you’re still fighting home-front issues like jobs…. This is just not a presidential politics issue. In a re-election year you don’t step into a minefield when you know there are mines there that will explode and there’s no upside in him going. It might strike some nice chords, but politically there’s just no argument for him.