The Climate Change Trap - Forbes.com

Obama's plans to finance an ambitious clean energy agenda by imposing a de facto carbon-emissions tax in the form of an auction-based cap-and-trade system has set the stage for an epic showdown on Capitol Hill over carbon emissions and energy legislation. The outcome will likely shape energy and environmental policies for decades.

But it also has the potential to derail the new president's larger agenda, as campaign promises, fiscal realities and industry pressure collide--a scenario that swamped the early days of the Clinton administration's work on health care. "If Obama wins the election," a report by Stanford Financial Group predicted in August, "he will face pressure to be very aggressive on strict limits and auctions and could find himself in the unenviable position of having his climate change effort become his 'Hillary Care.' "