Analysis: Obama the pragmatist gets what he can

When Obama impatiently told other leaders here to rally behind a climate change deal despite its limitations, he sounded like he was talking about his health care push or his economic stimulus plan at home. The president whose election campaign was about change knows that governing — and re-election — are about showing results.

"I'm sure that many consider this an imperfect framework," Obama said Friday to a gathering of leaders from 193 countries. "No country will get everything that it wants."

On several levels, watching Obama in Copenhagen was like getting a mini-course in what makes him tick as a leader.

He's learning the frustrating limits of his powers of persuasion. Yet he presses on, willing to jet across the ocean and plunge into a long day of unpredictable diplomacy in pursuit of a deal to fight global warming.

At the same time, he's hemmed in by the high expectations he helped create. Across the world, so many people have come to see Obama the way they want that his actions often don't fit their perceptions, and he finds it ever harder to meet people's wishes.

He won the White House because voters from all over the U.S. political map placed in Obama their hopes for the future — expanding health care all around, reducing racial tensions, saving the planet. Now his approval ratings hover around 50 percent, down considerably from the heady, early days. Reality is harder than hope.

And so when Obama plunged at the last minute into a summit where the best chance was a political deal — talk of a legally binding pact had long been quashed — he sought to grab the moment and claim what he could.

"We can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward, continue to refine and build upon its foundation," Obama said. In other words, focus on what's in, not out, and don't walk away empty-handed.

Later, after a long day of negotiations, Obama announced that the U.S., China and three other countries had reached an "unprecedented breakthrough" on curbing climate change. Yet not without more hard work and trust would a more comprehensive, binding deal be in sight, he added.