In a world of tremendous challenges and threats, Mr. Obama has a curious way of selecting priorities.  Iran wants a Nuke, Mr. Obama  says let them get very close but not have it for 10 years.  ISIS expands, and Mr. Obama talks.  In the U.S., job growth still significantly lags what is needed to lead to real wage growth (with civilian employment still far below trend), and Mr. Obama’s regulatory state continues the pedal to the metal.

But perhaps the most curious of all is the shrill cry that the most pressing problem of our time is Global Warming.  You may think it unfair to have the title Mr. Obama preaches, but is it not an article of faith rather than evidence that leads to this push?  Certainly it is not global temperature rise, nor is it catastrophic sea level rise, nor is it more extreme weather events.  Please do not call as evidence model predictions (when they have been so reliably grossly wrong)  Further, it cannot be that Mr. Obama is simply responding to the “will of the people,” since AGW continues to be well below the concerns of most Americans.

In a commencement address at the United States Coast Guard Academy, Obama underscored the risks to national security posed by climate change, one of his top priorities for action in his remaining 19 months in office.  “The threat of a changing climate cuts to the very core of your service,” Obama told the 224 graduating cadets, who studied the impacts of global warming as part of their curriculum.

Now you might say that, well its true that the data don’t currently support AGW, but the risk is so high that something must be done, and every day makes the problem more difficult if not impossible to solve.  I could almost buy this, if Mr. Obama didn’t blithely ignore a monstrous problem that no one denies–our national debt.  No one denies that if we continue on our current course it will lead to disaster.  Further, every day makes the pain more difficult to swallow as the adjustments will become more draconian.  But Mr. Obama isn’t interested in leadership in preventing a future problem that no one denies, but he is very interested in a problem that may 1) not be a problem, 2) if it is a problem, may not be solvable by anything we do, no matter how draconian, and 3) is tremendously divisive (i.e., partisan).

Of course it is not unusual for any of us to have different priorities than our elected officials.  But to put as our top challenge what most consider a very low priority is a bit puzzling, notwithstanding the high intensity support the extreme left gives it.  As Mr. Obama repeatedly reminds us, he is not running again.  Perhaps he actually believes the global warming gospel.  As I’ve written previously, one does not need to deny either global warming or potential human contributions to it to nevertheless exercise extreme caution on AGW.  While the benefits of fighting AGW are questionable, the costs are very real and fall disproportionately on the poor.