Dave Roberts: The Way Through Climate Politics  January 17, 2013
The big discussion topic this week has been Theda
Skocpol’s analysis of why carbon legislation has so far failed.
 The not-universally-accepted analysis is that big green groups
got it wrong for a number of reasons, including too much
dependence on political and financial insiders to craft a
solution, and political spin to sell it.  The Washington
Post interviewed Skocpol this week:       Dave Roberts of Grist
has a take on it.   For one thing, Dems no longer have 60
senators, and likely won’t any time soon, so Democratic unity is
no longer enough to get past a filibuster. For another thing,
Dem unity on carbon caps simply isn’t possible. Energy is a
regional issue. There are Dems from big coal and oil states who
will never agree to carbon caps.  So capping carbon requires
some Republicans. But Republicans have gone full nihilist on
environmental protections, so no Republican will vote for carbon
caps. That’s the current state of affairs.  Wil