If Chris Mooney didn’t seem so serious, I would think this was a joke. He’s predicting that George W. Bush will use the State of the Union Speech to stake his claim as “the Science President.”
A while back I blogged about an idea floated by Morton Kondracke: That George W. Bush should try to become the “science” president by emphasizing, in his State of the Union speech, themes of global scientific competitiveness and the need to ensure that the good old USA is leading the pack. Well, it now seems official: According to the Boston Globe, in his speech tonight Bush plans to highlight Norman Augustine, a former Lockheed Martin CEO who “last year led a congressionally mandated National Academies team that issued a report warning that America is ‘on a losing path’ in the global marketplace.” Why are we falling behind? If you believe the NAS, it’s because of inadequate scientific and mathematical training for our high school students, not enough funding of basic scientific research, etc etc.
That’s right. George “Let’s teach intelligent design” Bush. George “Let’s censor climate scientists” Bush. George “Let’s watch while particle physics withers away” Bush. George “Let’s slash funding for basic research” Bush. George “Let’s politicize the scientific decision-making process and suppress results we don’t like” Bush. George “Let’s divert research funding to my Moon-Mars boondoggle” Bush. George “Most anti-science President ever” Bush.
I understand that, after staking his claim as the Science President, Bush will present himself with a coffee mug that says “World’s Greatest Leader, Ever.” And a pony.
His only references to Science—
“And to keep America competitive, one commitment is necessary above all: We must continue to lead the world in human talent and creativity. Our greatest advantage in the world has always been our educated, hard-working, ambitious people — and we are going to keep that edge. Tonight I announce the American Competitiveness Initiative, to encourage innovation throughout our economy, and to give our Nation’s children a firm grounding in math and science.
First: I propose to double the Federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next ten years. This funding will support the work of America’s most creative minds as they explore promising areas such as nanotechnology, supercomputing, and alternative energy sources.
Second: I propose to make permanent the research and development tax credit, to encourage bolder private-sector investment in technology. With more research in both the public and private sectors, we will improve our quality of life — and ensure that America will lead the world in opportunity and innovation for decades to come.
Third: We need to encourage children to take more math and science, and make sure those courses are rigorous enough to compete with other nations. We have made a good start in the early grades with the No Child Left Behind Act, which is raising standards and lifting test scores across our country. Tonight I propose to train 70,000 high school teachers, to lead advanced-placement courses in math and science … bring 30,000 math and science professionals to teach in classrooms … and give early help to students who struggle with math, so they have a better chance at good, high-wage jobs. If we ensure that America’s children succeed in life, they will ensure that America succeeds in the world.
Preparing our Nation to compete in the world is a goal that all of us can share. I urge you to support the American Competitiveness Initiative … and together we will show the world what the American people can achieve.”
…
…
“A hopeful society has institutions of science and medicine that do not cut ethical corners, and that recognize the matchless value of every life. Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research — human cloning in all its forms … creating or implanting embryos for experiments … creating human-animal hybrids … and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift from our Creator — and that gift should never be discarded, devalued, or put up for sale.”
Bush the Father, Bush the Son, Bush the Holy Ghost.
If someone missed it and wants to know what Bush actually said – as opposed to speculations of our male feminist friends who he could have said – read
http://motls.blogspot.com/2006/01/bush-is-genius.html
re: “Nucular”
“…While most common in the U.S., these pronunciations have also been heard from British and Canadian speakers.”
And this doesn’t make it right!
In Canada, not too long ago, we had a Prime Minister who fractured both official languages… but the real problem is when a leader just doesn’t understand the complexity of the problem he faces… so simplifies on the wrong basis in order to “model’ a solution… and ends up with a solution that is modeled on something that just doesn’t exist… in anybody’s reality… and CAN”T work as no one can truly believe that it can work…
The House Divided can stand and applaud (for, or in sarcasm) as it did, but I don’t think Bush, unfortunately, did anything but promote his lame duck status tonight.
And whether you are for him or against him, the USA in this state is not a better place.
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Lubos,
Your naive assessment amazes me. He ALWAYS says a lot of things… then he does what is good for his buddies in the energy business and his friends at PNAC.
Perhaps the fact that American is not your native language provides a challenge to your ability to seperate reality from total B. S. I’d sure be likely to misunderstand a speech in Czech.
A genius???…. the bar must be pretty low to qualify.
Elliot
The most specious claim President Bush makes about supporting science is his smoke and mirror approach to science education. He says we need the brightest and most creative minds to keep us out in front of new development and technology, but his policies as carried out through “no child left behind” are antithetical to this agenda. Science literacy requires teaching methods (constructivism and inquiry) that emphasize conceptual learning over rote knowledge aquisition. Even though inquiry is clearly stressed in national and most state standards, it is nearly impossible to devise standards based testing that encourages this constructivist apporach to teaching. Scinece educators are stuck trying to use good pedagogy while somehow preparing students for inherently ineffective and biased tests. Any good science knows that constructivism works, but that they are risking their jobs or at least promotions if they don’t slant their practices towards the test. Once again, President Bush’s policies are implemented with our without “expert” input.
Re: #7, 8, 10: Besides the question of decoys, the trouble with missile defense concerns the basic physics of ballistic flight and intercept. Making plausible assumptions about response time and rocket velocities, it is very difficult for a rocket to reach another rocket. Even if the interceptor gets there in time, what exactly does it do to stop the inbound missile? You can’t just wish away the momentum. (There are also myraid engineering challenges, such as ensuring software reliability.) See Daniel Kleppner et al.’s article in the January 2004 Physics Today and Richard Garwin’s article in the November 2004 Sci Am.
George
My initial reaction the “Science President” was one of horror and I confess to a deep dislike of Dubya. HOWEVER we need to try to do something positive, and do it by taking a leaf out of the republican play-book. The chances are that your congressperson doesn’t have a clue about what is meant by basic science and so we need to help him/her define it and support it. Therefore, write to your congressman/woman and say how heartened you were by GWB and explain the importance of basic research and say exactly what it is for you (Cosmology, String Theory, … ) Talk about how you have gone to elementary and high school classes and talked to rapt XXX grade students about the mysteries of the universe. Do it on letterhead and then phone, and keep phoning the congressmans office to emphasize how important it is … and how we need money for post-docs, graduate students, computers …… . Try to get a group of your colleagues to have an “audience” with your Congressperson……
Before you post another word to a blog, WRITE TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES and get them behind this. It is probably a quixotic waste of time, but think of it as a poor-man’s form of Pascal’s bet. If the republicans are met with endless moaning then it will certainly come to nothing, and we will have the satisfaction of being correct but impoverished ……
“Tonight I propose to train 70,000 high school teachers, to lead advanced-placement courses in math and science … bring 30,000 math and science professionals to teach in classrooms”
I wonder how 70,000 science teachers are going to like being trained in teaching intelligent design. This flies in the face of the support that Bush gets from the religous right and I can’t imagine he will actually follow through on it.
George,
Yep. It was compared by Senator Dick Durbin to hitting a hole in one into a moving hole on a green with a hundred other moving holes. All at 18,000 mph. Needs to be in the right hole the first time.
Nicholas,
Good idea. My rep is Judy Biggert who actually has Argonne AND Fermilab in her district so you would think she’d be on board.
Elliot
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