Economics
Like Obamacare, Climate Gives President Huge But Fragile Win
- Republican lawmakers howl; deal doesn't need Congress nod
- Obama spent political capital around globe to secure accord
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For Barack Obama, the landmark climate-change deal in Paris should leave a familiar -- and familiarly fragile -- sense of victory.
As with the health care overhaul of his first term, the U.S. president secured a policy win that has eluded predecessors for decades. The climate accord reached by almost 200 countries on Saturday seeks to fundamentally alter the world’s energy system, moving the globe away from reliance on fossil fuels to avoid what scientists say would be catastrophic changes to the environment.