In picking Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), President Obama sent the Senate a nominee who should satisfy, if not delight, Republicans as well as Democrats. Given McCarthy's solid credentials and record, Senators should be stumbling over themselves to confirm her.

As Republicans soul-search about how to align themselves with the contemporary values and concerns of the American people, global climate change apparently remains verboten. In fact, the GOP is moving farther away from its own voters on the issue, not to mention the new voters it hopes to attract.

With the exception of Alfred E. Newman and those who are taking advantage of legalized pot, we Americans are very good worriers. We are even able to worry about several things at once. It's a kind of emotional multi-tasking and we do it all the time.

Nevertheless, it's a skill...

With debate over the Keystone XL pipeline heating up, the White House has issued an update of President Obama's "Blueprint for a Clean and Secure Energy Future." It is the latest of White House policy pronouncements that leave us wondering whether President Obama will ever uncage his...

Would the Keystone XL pipeline make America more secure or less? What contribution would it make, if any, to stabilizing our energy supplies or keeping us out of messes elsewhere in the world? Would it have an adverse impact on global climate disruption, or no impact at all? Informed people...

In its new assessment of America's infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) found that much of it is aging and substandard. Among the systems needing repairs are dams, levees and storm water controls that are important to protecting the American people from the growing impacts of...

On March 19, The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released its new report card on the condition of America's infrastructure. Overall, our infrastructure in 16 categories ranging from bridges to water systems earned only a D+. ASCE estimates the United States needs to invest $3.6 trillion by...

The conventional wisdom in Washington, D.C., is that President Obama has 180 days to move his agenda before the 2014 mid-term elections begin to freeze the public policy process.

Baloney.

The Constitution establishes each presidential term at four years, not six months. Nowhere did the Founders write that when...

As debate heats up again over the Keystone XL pipeline, each side will drop cluster bombs of data on why President Obama should or should not allow the project to proceed. The conventional arguments can be summarized in two words: jobs and carbon.

There are much bigger issues to consider,...

It has not taken long for Barack Obama to face the first big test of his resolve on combatting global climate disruption.

That test is the Keystone Pipeline, which would carry one of the dirtiest of all fossil fuels from the tar sands of Canada to refineries on the...

Barack Obama is very likely the last American president who can keep us from plunging helplessly off the climate cliff. Judging by his Inaugural and State of the Union speeches, he gets that.

It has been a long time coming.

Lyndon Johnson was the first president on record to...

As President Obama decides how to tackle the growing threat of climate disruption, he might look to precedents set by the two Roosevelts when they occupied the White House during the last century.

Theodore Roosevelt, who served as president from 1901 to 1909, subscribed to the "stewardship theory" of executive...

There's no question that when it comes to fixing national problems, Congress has bigger power tools than the president of the United States. But the president is not powerless. He has a variety of authorities conferred by the Constitution, validated by the courts, implied by tradition or delegated by Congress.

This is the second in a two-part interview with Marine Col. Puck Mykleby about how America can reinvent its foreign and national security policies to be more relevant and effective in the 21st Century - an important issue as President Obama brings on a new foreign policy team and Congress...

They are known as the Vulcans, the foreign policy team of the last Bush Administration. The nickname reportedly comes from the Roman god of fire. Or perhaps it refers to the extraterrestrial humanoids on Star Trek who lived "by reason and logic with no interference from emotion."

They...

With a new foreign policy team about to join the Obama Administration and with the possibility of budget cuts for the Department of Defense, are changes ahead in how the United States approaches national security? That question is on the minds of thought leaders in the security and defense communities....

This is the second part of a two-part interview with Hunter Lovins. Hunter, who Newsweek has called "the green business icon", has worked with companies around the world on the economics of energy efficiency and renewable energy. She is a leading expert on the business case for sustainable low-carbon energy.

Imagine this: You live in beautiful house with the best of everything. However, when you turn on your faucets, only one-fifth of the water you pay for comes out. The rest leaks from bad plumbing onto your basement floor.

The 112th Congress is not the first that didn't earn its pay. President Truman criticized the 80th Congress as a do-nothing bunch in the 1940s. In December 1881, The New York Times printed this familiar complaint as the 47th Congress was about to begin:

"The manner in...

There was a moment when the Founding Fathers considered putting a provision in the Constitution that would allow citizens to recall members of Congress. The proposal failed. As a result, only members of Congress can remove other members of Congress from office.

It's a pity. As the 112th Congress...