I appreciate and agree with the pro-science sentiments the president shared during his State of the Union address, but the notion that George W. Bush has a real affinity for science is laughable.
The president’s fascination with the gee-whiz breakthroughs of modern science may not be new, but it has certainly been more evident in the days since he made unleashing the power of research and innovation a central element of his State of the Union address. As he tours the country promoting his plan to encourage more laboratory advances and improve science education, Bush has been fixated with some of the most tantalizing new technologies in the works.
He visited a laboratory in Minnesota and a high school science classroom in Dallas. He talks about “flex-fuel” cars and solar beams and nanotechnology. (“I’m just beginning to understand what that means,” he said Friday.) He waxes on about the possibilities of cellulosic technologies. (“Big word for a history major,” he said Thursday. “I don’t want to try to spell it.”)
And, like many people about to turn 60 years old, he reflects on how fast technology has been changing the world around him…. “Technology is changing the way we think,” Bush said here Friday.
Well, it may be changing the say some people think, but I’m not all convinced the president is one of them.
If Bush is sincere about his new-found interest in modern science, I’m truly delighted. But I’ll remain skeptical until he changes his mind about teaching intelligent-design creationism in public school science classes, about rejecting all scientific evidence as it relates to global warming, about dismissing and restricting the scientific breakthroughs promised by stem-cell research, and generally stops using bogus science to justify his political agenda. (I’d refer readers not only to this fantastic book, but also to the Union of Concerned Scientists’ report, which included the concerns of over 60 leading scientists and 20 Nobel laureates, all of whom were protesting the Bush White House’s politicization of science.)
Indeed, in light of Bush’s record, it’s not altogether clear why the man is suddenly so interested in science at all. Fortunately, the New York Times clues us in.
President Bush’s proposal to accelerate spending on basic scientific research came after technology industry executives made the case for such a move in a series of meetings with White House officials, executives involved said Wednesday.
In other words, business lobbyists were needed to come up with one of the rare good policy ideas to come out of this White House. As Matt Yglesias noted, it’s a “pretty pathetic approach to running the country.”