John Kerry: U.S. Should Lead the Way on Global Warming

As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. John Kerry is no stranger to the challenges of international diplomacy. The skills of the Massachusetts Democrat are being tested as never before in this month's high-stakes negotiations in Copenhagen to hammer out a multinational agreement to combat global warming.

"The United States is leading now," says Kerry. "We're saying the United States is going to step up with real reductions." But successful negotiation isn't about just promising to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he says. Personal persuasion is essential to cutting a deal, Kerry says, which is why he flew to the U.N. climate change conference for some high-level arm-twisting.

Spreading the gain, and the pain, is key, too. "Everybody's got to do a little bit of something, and everybody's got to do something that they don't like very much," says Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran and former presidential candidate. "That's what negotiating is all about."

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