US President Barack Obama today pledged in his inaugural address to “restore science to its rightful place” and committed his administration to developing and deploying alternative energy technologies.
In a line of his speech that drew cheers from the crowd of more than 1 million people at the National Mall, Obama referred to criticism that President George W. Bush’s administration had politicized some scientific studies and diminished the role of science in policy debates.
“We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise healthcare’s quality and lower its costs,” Obama said.
The new president, who campaigned to strengthen the US response to factors contributing to climate change, also called for changes in America’s energy policy, saying that “each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”
Obama said that under his administration the US “will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.”
The Illinois Democrat’s prominent mention of science in his inaugural address offered new evidence that he and his team of advisers plan to make scientific research and advice a more important part of the White House decision-making process.
Last month, Obama chose physicist John P. Holdren — an outspoken expert on energy, climate change, and arms-control policies from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government — to be his science adviser. He also named Harold Varmus, president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and genomics researcher Eric Lander, director of the Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA, to co-chair the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
Obama’s comments about science and energy policy in his inaugural speech were part of his overall call for Americans to choose “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord” in order to restore the nation’s economy and its respect in the world.
“Everywhere we look, there is work to be done,” said Obama.
“The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.”
The Obama-backed economic stimulus package that Congress is now considering would include research funding. And among the major science-related issues that Obama’s administration is expected to tackle soon are reducing government restrictions on stem-cell research and promoting the development and deployment of “green” energy technologies.
