The rightful place of science

The Democratic Party's enthusiastic support of science is delivering immediate financial rewards for research, but it raises long-term questions about the politicization of science. The first candidate for comparison would be embryonic stem cell research, which for many scientists and members of the public symbolized President Bush's willingness to sacrifice science on a particularly distasteful politics. In announcing the change, President Obama emphasized the need to make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology. Another common allegation about Bush administration abuse of science focused on decisions that ignored the expert views of scientists in deference to pure political considerations. Democrats are finally discovering a politically powerful symbol of what they want to stand for, a symbol that captures the American respect for progress and illustrate a positive role for government that cannot easily be delayed by Republicans as 'tax-and-spend' or anti- market but on the contrary is widely believed by Americans to be the key to a better future.