Our new climate czar ... just don't call her that

On the heels of the announcement that Carol Browner will be the Obama administration's "climate czar" comes this question from Plenty: What exactly does a climate czar do?

First things first, don't call her a czar. "It's unlikely that Browner's business cards will actually read "Climate Czar," since Obama reportedly dislikes the title's autocratic resonances.

Still, the media won't let her abandon the title so easily, and conservatives are already trying to use the appointment to paint Obama as another high-handed, big-government Democrat." So think of her more as a high-powered "adviser to the President."

Her tasks: "Browner's precise job description isn't yet clear, but it's likely that she'll serve as a high-level White House adviser, coordinating the work of Cabinet officials and perhaps heading a National Energy Council modeled on Bill Clinton's National Economic Council. That, at least, is the plan put forward by the Center for American Progress, the liberal think-tank that's provided the intellectual muscle for Obama's transition effort (and whose head, John Podesta, is co-chair of Obama's transition team).

"You've got Energy, Interior, EPA, Agriculture, Transport, State, all are going to have something to do with energy and global warming," says Daniel J. Weiss, the group's director of climate strategy. "This would provide a person who could coordinate those activities."

As the longest serving EPA administrator in history -- she served through both Clinton administrations -- Browner is no stranger to Washington or bureaucracies, but there is some concern that adding an additional layer of oversight will only tangle the government's environmental org chart. We shall see.