Free Republic

We have just marked a year since John Kerry launched himself, at 69, as America’s chief diplomat. And for most of the period since it has been difficult to find anything good to say about our 68th secretary of state. Events of late require that I confess to error and change my mind. Kerry could go down as the most important overseer of American foreign policy in the post–Cold War era. The record is very mixed, it is important to add immediately. The past year’s agenda is littered with failures — Syria (Kerry’s diplomacy just reached a dead end), the...

The November elections will determine the direction of US climate policy -- and therefore also energy policy and the pace of economic growth: jobs, standards of living, budget deficits and inflation. Obama has already promised to make climate change the centerpiece of his concern -- with all that implies: "Green" energy policy, linked to loss of jobs (Keystone pipeline disapproval), rising gas prices (ethanol mandates), and crony capitalism (Solyndra). By contrast, Romney is a climate skeptic -- and Ryan has been quite outspoken: the perfect anti-Gore. The science supports Romney-Ryan -- notwithstanding the UN-IPCC, and the bulk of the climate...