Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Snowverload and climate change

David Leonhardt knows that it may be snowing outside, but that's not the big problem.

The stronger argument for a major government response to climate change is the more obvious argument: climate change. The continental United States endured its hottest year on record in 2012, and the planet's 13 hottest years have all occurred since 1998. Major storms and wildfires are increasing in many regions. The air in much of China resembles soup. The seas are rising faster than forecast only a few years ago, and the costs of extreme weather are rising, too.

In Washington, the economic case for responding to climate change has made little progress, with Democrats failing to pass a sweeping bill when they controlled Congress and Republicans remaining strongly opposed. And President Obama has subtly shifted his approach, talking less about green jobs and more about extreme weather.

As he prepares to deliver the first State of the Union address of his second term, on Tuesday night, he and his advisers face some big decisions on climate policy.

We've just come through an election in which climate change got close to zero attention, but we can't stay there. It's the planet, stupid. Everything, every issue, needs to be considered against its effect on the climate.

Timothy Egan thinks Sally Jewel is a fine choice for Interior, and a welcome change.

Don't expect to see Sally Jewell, who is President Obama's nominee for Interior secretary, in a showy Stetson. Running shoes, yes. Climbing helmet, of course. Cycling tights, no doubt. If confirmed, Jewell would be one of the few directors of that vast department to actually share the passions of the majority of people who use the 500 million acres of public land under Interior's control. ...

Obama, following down the ravaged path of George W. Bush, has made it easy for oil and gas drillers to industrialize huge swaths of land that are owned by every citizen. About six million acres have been leased to drillers in the last four years; a total of 44 million acres are under lease now.

Bush made oil and gas drilling his number-one priority for Interior's lands. Obama has not significantly altered that course.

'We are drilling all over the place,' Obama said in defense of his policies during the presidential campaign. At the same time, less public land has been permanently protected under Obama than by any of the prior four presidents. ...

Sally Jewell would be the first woman chosen to join a second-term cabinet dominated by white males. But she also represents a different kind of diversity inside the Beltway: someone who can tell you which way the wind is blowing without having to fake it.

More punditry behind the curtain...