March 12, 2009
Science and the president: A new era of integrity, sort of
by
The Economist
During his campaign, Barack Obama promised to end two wars. The one in Iraq smoulders on. But "The Republican War on Science", to borrow the title of an influential book, is now over.
On March 9th, as he lifted some restrictions on federal funding for stem-cell research, Mr Obama spoke of "restoring scientific integrity to government". From now on, he said, scientists will be "free from manipulation or coercion," and the government will "[listen] to what they tell us, even when it's inconvenient." Unlike a certain ex-president, Mr Obama will ensure "that scientific data [are] never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda."
Democrats have long argued that Republicans are anti-science. The party of George Bush, they contend, favours teaching creationism, denies that mankind is broiling the planet and blocks medical research out of religious pigheadedness. There is some truth to these allegations, but less than the slogans allege.
Although most Americans support the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public schools and Mr Bush has said he agrees, in practice this almost never occurs, and is quickly stopped by the courts when it does. Republican doubts about the severity of global warming are much more serious, and have undoubtedly slowed the adoption of carbon curbs. But such doubts are fading. Few Republicans still deny that global warming is man-made. A more common objection to Mr Obama's cap-and-trade proposal is that it would amount to a huge tax hike in the middle of a recession.
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