If you believe that human-caused global warming and climate change are among the most threatening challenges facing our world – as an engineer, Purple surely does – then the Obama Administration's decision to abandon the fight for an energy/climate bill this year falls somewhere between disappointing and disastrous.

Sure, counting votes, there probably aren't 60 Senators yet ready to overcome a Republican filibuster, and the Democrats are on a modest winning streak they don't want to upset. But in abandoning the issue, they missed the chance to put Energy, Climate, and Republican Irresponsibility on the front page as signature issues for Congressional campaigns this fall.

Had the Democratic leadership - in Congress and the White House - moved vigorously, the stage would be set for getting a Bill in 2011. By letting the matter drop quietly, the President has down-played its importance, and may have lost his chance to address energy and climate change for several years, insuring that future damage, costs and threats to national security will almost certainly be far greater than if he had acted forcefully now.

Locally it would surely have helped Democrats. Our area is well informed on the need to protect our environment, and sufficiently educated to understand the science involved. We remain angry at Dominion for proposing an unneeded power line across our countryside to transmit electricity generated from coal, a huge source of greenhouse gasses. Our Congressman, Republican Frank Wolf, has been a consistent opponent of federal action on climate change in his correspondence with this voter, his opposition further confirmed by his recent campaign mailing, which discussed every major issue one could think of, except climate change, about which not one word appeared.

Why is opposition to climate legislation so ingrained in the Republican agenda? Some possibilities:

(1) Republicans don't believe the science. Some Senators may not, but surely some are informed enough to respect the findings of the great bulk of the world's climate scientists. Universal Republican opposition to climate legislation suggests there are also other reasons.

(2) Action now will cost too much. This is illogical. Deferring action can cause huge costs later. Cap and trade or carbon taxes would of course raise the price of fossil fuels, by internalizing the costs of the pollution they cause, thus discouraging their use and promoting efficiencies and alternative energy sources. As for costs, if the proceeds from a climate/energy bill were used for energy research, for infrastructure adaptation, or returned to the economy in some other way there would be no net removal of funds, and little if any effect on the overall economy.

(3) The Republicans are united in a massive effort to be sure that anything Obama proposes is defeated, by minority filibusters if necessary, thus "proving" he is an ineffective President and unfit for re-election.

Knowing the poisonous atmosphere in Washington, Purple understands the strategy. The first argument will appeal to those unfamiliar with the issue, and the second to those who cannot see beyond this month's electric bill, not realizing that almost everything else they buy has the costs of associated pollution control reflected in its price. The third reason will energize the Party's hate base, including Tea Party supporters. Together these reasons establish a cynical political program that may appeal to know-nothing voters, but gives the rest of us every reason to defeat Republican legislators who put Party, re-election and self-interest over their Nation's needs.

A Purple-tinged candidate couldn't ask for a better target against which to run.