I could not be more pleased with this Obama’s appointments this week for science advisors, running NOAA and more. In his weekly radio address, Obama said:
…science isn’t just about providing resources—it’s about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient—especially when it’s inconvenient. Because the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a greater understanding of the world around us. That will be my goal as President of the United States—and I could not have a better team to guide me in this work.
From ScienceDebate2008’s Shawn Otto::
In addition to Steven Chu, John Holdren, and Jane Lubchenco, we would like to congratulate Science Debate 2008 supporters Harold Varmus and Eric Lander on being named co-chars of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. A 1989 Nobel laureate in medicine, Dr Varmus is former director of NIH and president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and has been one of our closest and strongest advocates throughout the last year - we are very pleased and proud of his appointment. Also an early supporter of Science debate 2008, Dr Lander is the Director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; the first author of the Human Genome Project, and one of TIME's 100 most influential people of our time (2004).
America was founded by scientist-statesmen like Jefferson and Franklin. It has always been an important part of our identity and success as a nation. We are hopeful that with these appointments, the American destiny with science can be reengaged to tackle our most pressing challenges as a nation, nearly all of which revolve around questions of science and technology. Now, the next step for the new administration will be successfully communicating this agenda to the American public, and reengaging the American media on these questions which are so critical to our ongoing success as a nation.
This is fantastic news for all of us who have lived under administrations with theocratic and dogmatic leanings, and it is great to see President Obama putting science and reason front-and-center. This is why I voted for him.
My only complaints with the appointments thus far are the appointments of Tom Vilsack of Agriculture Secretary (like Michael Pollan, I wanted someone who would revolutionize the way we produce and think about food, not an ag-advocate) and Robert Rubin, who at CitiBank presided over the current catastrophe. He does not deserve a place at the table.
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