I've mentioned this before but i kind of contradicted myself in earlier posts when i said that after the Fiscal "Cliff" issue is resolved, Obama is out of leverage and basically has to wait and hope that in 2014 the composition of Congress changes before he can get any new laws through.

That neglects the possibility of doing something about carbon emissions. What's the leverage? Well, in 2007, the Supreme Court decided in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency that the EPA is required to regulate carbon. Even after that ruling, the Bush EPA of course slow-peddled the implementation of that regulation, but my expectation was that on day one of Obama's 2008 administration they start doing it. Not necessarily because i think it's the best way to deal with our global warming problem, but because many people don't think it's the best way to deal with our global warming problem, so you'd have some kind of consensus to get something less punitive through Congress. Instead the Obama administration only made vague noises about potentially maybe starting something, which wasn't enough of a threat to Republicans, so they demonized the hell out of Cap & Trade (which, i probably don't have to tell you, was a Republican solution in the first place) and therefore we got nothing.

Now that Obama doesn't have re-election to worry about, i can't imagine why he wouldn't start up EPA carbon regulation immediately so that he gets another swing at bat here. The positioning here should be the same as it should be for the Fiscal Cliff: "I'm basically ok with the current law and in order for me to change it you'd better offer me something really good."