Over the past few weeks, Vice President-Elect Biden and I have announced some of the leaders who will advise us as we seek to meet America’s twenty-first century challenges, from strengthening our security, to rebuilding our economy, to preserving our planet for our children and grandchildren. Today, I am pleased to announce members of my science and technology team whose work will be critical to these efforts.
Whether it’s the science to slow global warming; the technology to protect our troops and confront bioterror and weapons of mass destruction; the research to find life-saving cures; or the innovations to remake our industries and create twenty-first century jobs – today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation. It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology.
Right now, in labs, classrooms and companies across America, our leading minds are hard at work chasing the next big idea, on the cusp of breakthroughs that could revolutionize our lives. But history tells us that they can’t do it alone. From landing on the moon, to sequencing the human genome, to inventing the Internet, America has been the first to cross that new frontier because we had leaders who paved the way: leaders like President Kennedy, who inspired us to push the boundaries of the known world and achieve the impossible; leaders who not only invested in our scientists, but who respected the integrity of the scientific process.
Because the truth is that promoting 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.
Dr. John Holdren has agreed to serve as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. John is a professor and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, as well as President and Director of the Woods Hole Research Center. A physicist renowned for his work on climate and energy, he’s received numerous honors and awards for his contributions and has been one of the most passionate and persistent voices of our time about the growing threat of climate change. I look forward to his wise counsel in the years ahead.
John will also serve as a Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology – or PCAST – as will Dr. Harold Varmus and Dr. Eric Lander. Together, they will work to remake PCAST into a vigorous external advisory council that will shape my thinking on scientific aspects of my policy priorities.
Dr. Varmus is no stranger to this work. He is not just a path-breaking scientist, having won a Nobel Prize for his research on the causes of cancer – he also served as Director of the National Institutes of Health during the Clinton Administration. I am grateful he has answered the call to serve once again.
Dr. Eric Lander is the Founding Director of the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard and was one of the driving forces behind mapping the human genome – one of the greatest scientific achievements in history. I know he will be a powerful voice in my Administration as we seek to find the causes and cures of our most devastating diseases.
Finally, Dr. Jane Lubchenco has accepted my nomination as the Administrator of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is devoted to conserving our marine and coastal resources and monitoring our weather. As an internationally known environmental scientist, ecologist and former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Jane has advised the President and Congress on scientific matters, and I am confident she will provide passionate and dedicated leadership at NOAA.
Working with these leaders, we will seek to draw on the power of science to both meet our challenges across the globe and revitalize our economy here at home. And I’ll be speaking more after the New Year about how my Administration will engage leaders in the technology community and harness technology and innovation to create jobs, enhance America’s competitiveness and advance our national priorities.
I am confident that if we recommit ourselves to discovery; if we support science education to create the next generation of scientists and engineers right here in America; if we have the vision to believe and invest in things unseen, then we can lead the world into a new future of peace and prosperity.
Thank you, and happy holidays everybody.
Showing posts with label Transition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transition. Show all posts
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Obama's Weekly Web/Radio Address
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Participatory Democracy
Obama's transition site, Change.gov, has a new section for submitting questions to the administration and voting on the questions submitted by others. Check it out:
Open for Questions
The #1 question currently is:
"What will you do to establish transparency and safeguards against waste with the rest of the Wall Street bailout money?"
Diane, New Jersy
Monday, December 08, 2008
Trust But Verify
REUTERS/John Gress
Barack Obama was elected little more than a month ago. He won't take office for another month and a half. He has run one of the quickest and smoothest transitions ever, rolling out appointees and being essentially a shadow government (for the nonfunctioning Bush bunker White House) in waiting.
So what's the problem? Liberals don't like his cabinet choices. Where are the liberals? Rather than appointing the economists who predicted the meltdown of the mortgage and credit markets, Obama has appointed people who were part of the Wall Street posse that got us into this mess. Apparently sensitive to the criticism, Obama has his deputy Steve Hildebrand post on Huffington Post asking liberals to, essentially, STFU.
Me, I'm still rather sanguine about the whole thing. It's not like FDR appointed a bunch of raging liberals to his Cabinet, and from that group we got the New Deal. (FDR did appoint one raging liberal: Frances Perkins, the first woman ever to hold a Cabinet position, and the longest-serving-ever Secretary of Labor. Obama still needs a Frances Perkins type in his Cabinet.)
But, jeez, he hasn't even taken office yet. Cabinet appointments haven't all been made. He hasn't even announced his Secretary of Labor yet. I am willing to give Obama a little slack here. The people aren't the policies. And while I may not agree with all his appointments (Larry Summers, chauvinist pig, grrrrrr) I'm going to hold my fire for now. I'll wait until actual policy making is done. Patience, people, patience.
Speaking of Cabinet appointments, I was very happy to see that General Eric Shinseki - the guy who told Donald Rumsfeld that his Iraq plan was a crock and got forced out for his truth-telling -- has been named Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
I Read The News Today, Oh Boy: November 18, 2008
We don't just need more Democrats -- we need better Democrats; the Senate Democrats are poised to leave Traitor Joe Lieberman in charge of the Homeland Security Committee. He failed to investigate the Bush Administration's failures in Katrina and Iraq during the past two years, but you can be sure he will be in high dudgeon soon enough for some perceived weakness by Obama. This is just disgusting behavior on the part of Senate Democrats who may as well be wearing "kick me" signs on their backs today.
In other bad news, AP reports that Obama's Justice Department will not prosecute anyone for torture. Again, this is a sign of weakness on Obama's part, and of not knowing his recent history. Democrats failed to prosecute the Iran-Contra criminals in the 1980s; and they formed the nucleus of the PNAC that led us into the disastrous war with Iraq. The torture cabal must be prosecuted and imprisoned so that they can't regroup and take over government again in 15 or 20 years. What Digby said: "when you let Republicans get away with murder, they will do it again."
Bushco is "burrowing" political appointees into civil service jobs -- career jobs -- in federal agencies. They're going to spend the next 63 days laying landmines for the Obama Administration.
Obama has named two attorneys who have fought in favor of Net Neutrality to head his FCC transition team.
Gregory Craig has been named Obama's White House counsel; he "quarterbacked" President Clinton's impeachment team.
The TSA's security theatre of the absurd is completely ineffective. Their own statistics show that less than 1% of people singled out for "behavior detection" were arrested (1,266 arrests of more than 160,000 people searched). As BoingBoing notes, who could have anticipated that a "'behavior detection' system whereby slack-jawed, water-confiscating security officers [are] trained to recognize your 'micro expressions' and single you out on the basis of a twitchy eyelid or a sweaty upper lip" would not work?
Query: Is Lisa Miller, Society Editor of the Newsweek (and OnFaith panelist at the Washington Post), the AntiChrist? Because she wrote a column that will be published in next week's Newsweek asking the same question about Barack Obama. Newsweek, asking if our next President is the AntiChrist. As evidence of bias, I present the fact that Newsweek never asked this question of either George W. Bush or Dickhead Cheney, both of whom could credibly claim to be Satan walking. Seriously, Newsweek: WTF?
Monday, November 17, 2008
Guardian Reports: It's Hill for State
Guardian (uk):
Hillary Clinton to accept Obama's offer of secretary of state job
President-elect Barack Obama reaching out to former rivals to build a broad coalition administration
Let's hope it's true.
Friday, November 14, 2008
I Read The News Today, Oh Boy: November 14, 2008
Much gnashing of teeth over the number of former Clinton staffers being hired by Obama. I am perplexed. Who else should he hire? Former Bush administration staffers? Or naifs to Washington who would have a huge learning curve? The best source of experienced Democratic operatives for the White House are obviously the vets of the Clinton Administration. It's not like there a lot of people around from the Jimmy Carter (1976-1980) Administration to tap.
To infinity, and beyond! Obama will YouTube his weekly radio address, starting this weekend. This makes total sense. Not a lot of people listen to the radio anymore, compared to the audience getting their news online. I only ever heard the weekly radio address if I happened to be driving somewhere on a Saturday. Now I'll post it on this blog weekly. I bet the audience multiplies by more than 100-fold.
George W. Bush is such an international joke that world leaders are using him as a punch line. Sarkozy capped an argument with Putin during the Georgia crisis in August: "But do you want to end up like Bush?" Putin's response "Ah - you have scored a point there."
Republican governors not to happy with the Palin press conference yesterday. Governors trashed her anonymously to CNN: "One called it awkward: 'I’m sure you could see it on some of our faces.' Another Republican governor eyeing a presidential run in 2012 told CNN the event was 'odd' and 'weird,' and said it 'unfortunately sent a message that she was the de facto leader of the party.'"
The Catholic Church continues to drift towards religious extremism. A Catholic priest in Columbia, South Carolina has advised his parishioners that no Catholic who voted for Obama should receive communion. If he wants to empty the pews, he should ban parishioners who practice birth control. That would get rid of 80% of the faithful.
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