In particular, that will mean many more pledges to fight climate change, following the examples of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin companies and Wal-Mart, both of which won reams of positive publicity following their carbon-reducing commitments at past meetings of the CGI.
In the final reckoning, Mr. Clinkscales said, passionate commitment outweighed past achievement.
This time many rank-and-file Palestinians hope that, if a new unity government took shape, Western paymasters would accept a commitment to past PLO agreements by the unity government, rather than specifically by the Hamas faction within it.
And for all the debate about "respect" versus "commitment" to past agreements, the deal does not contain a get-out clause Hamas once insisted on: that such agreements be "in the higher interests of the Palestinian people", leaving vague what those interests were.
Observed behavior often seems to violate this principle, resulting in unwarranted commitment to past choices and their escalation.
The little guy, freed from earnings estimates, bureaucracy and commitment to past blockbusters, has a clean piece of paper.
Abe's government has been at pains to distance itself from such comments and others casting doubt on the prime minister's commitment to past apologies for Japan's wartime deeds.
Comparing Obama's statement from the summer and Biden's statement last night would suggest that Obama and Biden would delay meeting this commitment past the end of the (first?) Obama/Biden Administration.
The North Koreans have not abided by many of their past commitments.
