Priority 1 for Next U.S. President: Global Warming

To hear the presidential candidates stump, and to hear the media question them, the war in Iraq and the threat of Jihadist terrorism is about the only issue that matters (along with Rudy Giuliani's love life). Sure, candidates have inked health and energy plans that would revolutionize American society and the U.S. economy, but priority one is clear.

One commentator sees it differently. John Hughes, a former editor of the Christian Science Monitor, calls global warming priority one and energy priority two, with terrorism falling in at priority No. 3. In many ways, all three are a single issue. Or, at least, all three have some common solutions. Terrorism is sparked, at least in great part, by the presence of the United States military and political influence in oil-rich Middle East states.

Bin Laden, remember, is a Saudi deeply resentful of America's role in the nation with the world's largest known reservoirs of oil. Oil is second to coal as an energy source contributing to global warming. Revolutionize the American economy by investing in renewable and alternative energy sources -- that is, tackle Hughes' No. 2 priority -- and you can go a long way to solving the other two top-tier priorities.

An America that learns how to generate enough clean energy domestically is free of many violent entanglements in nations where extremism is rampant, the climate is cleared of greenhouse gases and the economy -- a priority that didn't make Hughes' list -- is bolstered by new American jobs and technology.

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