World matters fill Obama's schedule

Stuart Loory, Lee Hills Chair in Free-Press Studies, Missouri School of Journalism: This is the week that Barack Obama is trying to establish himself as the leader of the free world. On Tuesday, he spoke to the United Nations on the need to control the climate in the world. On Wednesday, he promised that the United States would become more engaged in the international organization and would no longer try to tackle international problems alone like the administration of George W. Bush. Thursday, he chaired a meeting of the U.N. Security Council as it took up the matter of nuclear proliferation. He also held one-on-one meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao on fighting climate change, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on sanctions against Iran and with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on achieving a resumption of peace negotiations in the Middle East. Then it was on to Pittsburgh for a meeting of the G-20 nations on the world’s economic crisis. How important is this year’s U.N. opening session, and how well did Obama do for himself and his country?