World Climate Report » U.S. Temperatures: 2008 Back to the Future?

The data are just in from the National Climatic Data Center and they show that for the year 2008, the average temperature across the United States (lower 48 States) was 1.34ºF lower than last year, and a mere one-quarter of a degree above the long-term 1901-2000 average. The temperature in 2008 dropped back down to the range that characterized most of the 20th century.

Michael Gerson - The Risks in Obama's Ambitions - washingtonpost.com

It is another iron rule that prosperous, confident nations do more for the environment than economically struggling ones. And this sets up a conflict between Obama's urgent environmental diagnosis -- a cumulative scientific case for serious, possibly catastrophic climate disruption -- and the economic and political realities of the moment.

The centerpiece of Obama's environmental approach is an "economy-wide cap-and-trade program," designed to dramatically limit greenhouse gas production. But this would act as a large tax on the use of fossil fuels -- in an economy where falling energy prices have been one of the few sources of good news.

If Obama plows ahead with an aggressive cap-and-trade system, Republican and Democratic opponents -- focused exclusively on jobs -- will find plenty of excuses for legislative inertia. If he phases in a system too slowly, it will undermine his own arguments for urgency. If he abandons a cap-and-trade system in favor of investing in eco-infrastructure -- a more efficient energy grid, weatherizing public buildings -- he will get what he wants, and also get slammed for betraying a serious commitment.