Articles by Paul
Changing the climate of presidential debates
When future generations — or simply young people today — look back at the topics of recent U.S. presidential debates, they will be stunned that America’s political journalists ignored climate change, the issue that will overwhelm most others in coming years…
Raising the Sunken Road of American Politics
The bloodiest day in American history was not inflicted by Al Qaeda on 9/11, or the Japanese Empire at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, or Nazi Germany on D-Day June 6, all among the most famous dates in U.S. history. Instead, we did it to ourselves…
Amid Trump economic debacle, Biden’s central message must be his plan for American recovery
The beleaguered economy is far and away most Americans’ main concern. Yet Trump recently held an absurd and dangerous 10-point advantage on the issue…
Denier-in-chief: Trump, COVID and climate change
It is a tale of two worlds. In Real World, the COVID scourge continues to inflict massive human suffering and economic costs on the American people. More than 177,000 Americans have died. More than 5.7 million have been infected…
BP plan is chance to shed ‘Beyond Parody’ tag
[Financial Times subscription required to read article.] In the late 1990s when then BP chief executive John Browne claimed he was moving the oil company “Beyond Petroleum”, industry wags dubbed it “Beyond Parody”. They were entirely…
Letter: Shift to clean energy investment offers gains for shareholders
[Financial Times subscription required to read this article.]
Tackle unemployment, trade, manufacturing and environment: Invest in green infrastructure
More than 42 million workers have filed unemployment claims during the coronavirus pandemic, the jobless rate is over 13% and minorities are bearing a disproportionate share of the economic pain, just as people have taken to the streets…
Is Crying a Sign of Weakness? Tell That to Churchill
I was struck by Donald Trump’s simplistic and unsympathetic view that crying by men is a sign of “weakness.” In contrast, a recent biography, “Churchill: Walking With Destiny,” by Andrew Roberts, catalogs dozens of times both before…
Why Klobuchar should be Biden’s vice presidential pick
After Joe Biden’s strong debate performance on March 15 and third straight huge primary night two days later, it is increasingly obvious he will be the Democratic nominee. Even without the Ohio vote, the March 17 primaries all…
Biden must first unite the party to defeat Trump
While Super Tuesday’s dramatic results have boosted former Vice President Joe Biden more than anyone predicted, it’s still not enough, not yet. Nothing less than Biden going into the convention in Milwaukee with a sizable majority will…
To winnow primary field, Obama and other Democrats must speak out
As Super Tuesday looms, none of the seven remaining Democratic presidential candidates has signaled any intention to leave the race. If allowed to continue, this could spell disaster for Democrats, increasing the already significant…
Will Bloomberg’s Bucks Help Beat Trump — or Boost Sanders?
Many Democrats are now understandably fixated on the strong showings of former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders, or on the disappointing performances of former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren…
Our Future Depends on the Arctic
MADRID — Delegates from nearly every nation spent the last two weeks here at a United Nations climate summit struggling to chart a course to meet the extraordinarily difficult goal of net zero emissions of carbon dioxide by the year 2050. Yet long before…
Trump’s Ukraine-Gate Attacks on Biden Echo Watergate
Those viewing and participating in tonight’s Democratic debate should ignore the spin, and cut right to the chase. Trump’s Ukraine-gate outrages are about exactly the same thing Watergate was: A corrupt President of the United States…
Winning the politics of the climate crisis
Democratic presidential candidates will try to outdo one another when they participate in CNN’s “Climate Forum” Wednesday. They will propose evermore ambitious plans to fight climate change. Given the increasingly dire…
No place for fossil-centric schemes in net zero future
[Financial Times subscription required to read article.] I agree with Repsol chairman Antonio Brufau that immediate action is needed to address climate change. But his contention that slightly more efficient oil-burning cars are…
Tax Credits for Affordable Electric Vehicles Gain Speed, But Legislation Must Avoid Stop Signs
As Congress begins to turn toward tax policies to help clean energy manufacturing, electric vehicle tax credits aimed directly at more affordable vehicles are gaining speed, just as a previous Forbes column and a Progressive Policy…
Fighting climate change – Letters to the Editor
In her June 7 op-ed, “The no-brainer climate solution,” Catherine Rampell pointed out that the Democratic presidential candidates have omitted our biggest policy tool in fighting climate change: a carbon tax…
Biden’s domestic climate plan is good, but his global strategies are crucial
As many climate activists had hoped, Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden came forward this week with an ambitious domestic climate change plan that proposes to cut U.S. emissions deeply while growing America’s…
Biden manages not to offend centrists or climate hawks with ‘B-plus’ plan
Joe Biden managed to please both climate change hawks and centrists with his $5 trillion “clean energy revolution” plan introduced Tuesday. Biden assuaged fears from critics to his Left who predicted he’d be too moderate on…
Democrats: Don’t just declare a climate emergency — make clean energy a winning campaign issue
The decision by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to walk away from more than a year of negotiations over a landmark clean energy legislation is a bitter pill for President Biden and other Democrats who made passing effective…
As UK conservatives dump Johnson, most in GOP still embrace Trump’s far graver threat
Winston Churchill, the figure embattled UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson claims as his role model, once defined a politician as someone who “is asked to stand, wants to sit, and is expected to lie.” Yet in the end, Johnson’s…
Democrats in Congress, not courts or GOP, must address climate — a good bill is waiting
The Supreme Court decision this week to restrict federal regulatory authority over carbon dioxide emissions from power plants should provide Democrats in Congress the last impetus they need to finally act on comprehensive climate change legislation. And…
Democrats must limit oil shocks along with climate risks
Energy issues are defining U.S. consumer, economic and security challenges more profoundly than any time since the oil embargoes of the 1970s. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has placed enormous pressure on global oil and…
Letter: War is chance for US to drive green energy policies
Derek Brower’s Big Read (April 14) correctly details US efforts to increase near-term oil and natural gas supplies to address shortages resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But history shows that high prices and security…
War means Biden needs a more muscular energy plan
As he travels to Europe this week, President Biden seems to face nearly insurmountable new energy challenges. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spiked global oil prices, and constricted Europe’s natural gas supplies…
Manchin’s energy and deficit-reduction bill can fight inflation — and Russia
President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last week highlighted two of the greatest foreign and domestic challenges facing the United States. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has undermined decades of peace in…
Clean energy bill can curb long-term inflation
U.S. inflation hit a 40-year high in January, with prices rising 7 percent over the last year, generating deep concerns across government, industry and financial markets…
To boost economy and midterm outlook, Democrats must pass clean energy bill
Congressional Democrats are getting restless, and who can blame them. Despite a major infrastructure legislation becoming law last November, the Biden administration’s economic agenda…
One year later, Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ still dominates GOP
On this first anniversary of the Donald Trump-inspired insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last Jan. 6 during which five people died, we find the Republican Party speeding toward a new identity as the “ReTrumplican Party.”…
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