Washington's political atmospherics couldn't be much worse for taking on big, complicated things after the bungled Obamacare launch. One unlucky and little noticed casualty: climate change.

A sweeping cap-and-trade bill, like the kind that died in President Barack Obama's first term, remains the best policy tool for addressing global warming at the federal level.

But the Affordable Care Act's early implementation problems offer a gut check for anyone considering putting their political muscle behind making another run at either a comprehensive legislative or regulatory fix to the climate issue - a remedy that could easily match, if not exceed, the bureaucratic complexity of Obamacare.

 Obamacare's stumbles have also fueled a debate in policy circles about alternative history - as in, would Obama's New Year's headache be even worse if climate change had also won congressional approval alongside health care?

There's plenty of irony in all this. Health care and climate change have been rival siblings battling for attention since the start of the Obama administration (Health care, so far, has been the winner).

Like key parts of Obamacare, the cap-and-trade concept originated with Republicans seeking a business-friendly way to control pollution. And EPA regulators have actually used the marked-based system with success for almost two decades to deal with acid rain and smog.

It stings even more for climate advocates that the country's recent natural gas revolution has led to a sharp drop in greenhouse gas emissions as electric utilities wean off coal. No one predicted this during the 2009-10 climate debate, but the U.S. is already nearly half way to the targets of the cap-and-trade bill that passed in the House but couldn't get out of the Senate.

With Obamacare implementation on the ropes, there's something of a wistful feeling among many of the failed climate bill's proponents that they wouldn't be causing the administration anywhere near the same problems. Their legislation had implementation in mind during the drafting phase by leaning on a number of existing programs, including channeling rebates to low income people via the food stamp program to compensate for energy prices that went up because of cap and trade.

But not only did cap-and-trade legislation get left at the altar when the Senate balked, Obamacare's unsteady debut leaves the future for any big climate proposal even dimmer. Supporters can only think of what might have been - and even some opponents acknowledge global warming might have been an easier governmental lift than health care reform.

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