"We would never propose a carbon tax, and have no intention of proposing one." -- Jay Carney, White House spokesman, Nov. 15.
Chris Mooney here argues that's a good thing, that the Obama administration's focus in the near term should be on regulatory efforts that don't require legislation, and that carbon pricing should be pushed off into the future. This strikes me as an example of the kind of stubborn partisan cohesiveness Mooney rightly decries when conservatives do it. At a moment when a carbon tax is gaining momentum, the idea that Obama should push it off (till when?) is very hard to reconcile with the urgency of the issue. Surely, the re-elected president can push regulatory efforts while also working on a carbon pricing solution that, as it happens, is also relevant to the imminent fiscal cliff. And when exactly would Obama have more political capital than he does in the aftermath of winning 332 electoral votes? Never.
UPDATE 1:17 PM: Via Instapundit, more evidence that the people who voted for Obama because of climate concerns have been had.
