Among all the tests President Obama faced in his first term, his biggest failure was climate change.

When it comes to energy, cost isn't everything - but it's a lot. Everybody wants cheap power.

Extracting oil from the tar sands is a nasty, polluting, energy-intensive business.

It's not all Obama's fault: His plans to rebuild America's energy infrastructure have been hampered by the recession, and his efforts on global warming have been stymied by Tea Party wackos and weak-kneed Democrats in Congress.

In reality, studies show that investments to spur renewable energy and boost energy efficiency generate far more jobs than oil and coal.

When it comes to global warming, coal is the gorilla in the room.

In reality, Republicans have long been at war with clean energy. They have ridiculed investments in solar and wind power, bashed energy-efficiency standards, attacked state moves to promote renewable energy and championed laws that would enshrine taxpayer subsidies for fossil fuels while stripping them from wind and solar.