Paul Krugman makes the point that Republicans don't want to admit that government must solve the pollution problem, even thought the Bush 41 administration gets credit for having solved acid-rain via tradeable emission permits. It's a fair criticism.
Missing from his analysis, however, is the fact that in 1996 government solved the welfare problem largely through a rigid cap on unemployment and welfare disbursements. Clinton took all the credit he could for this policy, even though it had been both a Republican idea as well as a Republican ideal.
Now Obama is trying the same tactic on the pollution front, taking a traditionally Republican idea (market-based reform) to solve a Democratic ideal. I would think that if Krugman really cared about the environment, he'd applaud Obama rather than criticize him.
