It’s about time!!! Being a scientist myself, the last 8 years under Bush has been a disaster! Bush has reversed so many rules and regulations that it will take Obama years to undo everything! He has poo pooed the debate altogether instead of leading the US in the world on these issues. It is a much better cause than false wars in Iraq which has cost us billions.

As a scientist myself, it is natural to be skeptical of issues until you have scientific fact. However, it is clear that something has to be done on this issue – and Bush has ignored everything and gone in the direction of BIG OIL companies.

We had 8 Years of a Idiot President that just Lived and Travel on our expense, and did no accomplish nothing but death and war and poor economy, seems like he should be made to pay back the damage he caused and for occupying the White House like it was the Best Western, ………………..all he did was live there……………….I wish a Lawyer found a loophole to represent Tax Payer in a Massive Law suit to Sue Bush and his aministration…………You lose a job for lying……….how many lies has he told and how much tax payer money was gambled with and lost?????? Or Stolen

David Gergen, as usual, you speak with honesty, sincerity, and great accuracy.

Go away mr. gergen. you have been on them scene too long. so bush’s incompetence only now worth a mention. it seems you sing to whoever is master. we so it during the clinton years, during the build up to war, during the war & now the new guy is coming in & you are now trying to find an angle by which to ingratiate yourself & get access to his people & stay relevant to the public. just leave us alone & go away. we are here inspite of the likes of you, go away.

And to all those that think Obama is trying to destory this county. Maybe you should move to Crawford and be with your fearless leader…..W. Because Obama and people that care have a lot work to do…so get out of the way.

Is there no end to the level of incompetency of Bush/Cheney? Science is about the future of our country and children. It seems that the only thing Bush/Cheney were interested in was the war and making money for their friends. These guys were morally and intellectually bankrupt.

You gave us GORE vs BUSH and KERRY vs BUSH. Who the hell were we supposed to vote for.

Well said! It’s about time we place the proper emphasis on science and technology. Both are critical to future job creation and keeping this country in the forefront.

Thanks David for addressing this topic in full detail, I totally agree with you in each point and I wish to focus on the cut on research budget, it really hurt scientists on the past 8 years and many of them lost their jobs because they failed to recruit research money which was on shortage!!! Because of the war budget….talking about stem cell research, US will be behind in crucial promising field of therapy if they continue Bush administration policies, however, many scientists made their way and success in this fundamental research…talking about the global warming issue….Bush administration view it as a political agenda not as a serious issue.

I love this article. Thanks David Gergen…and I must add I watch you on AC 360 nightly and you are by far the most objective analyst out there. Sometimes I’m hoping you would take my side but you don’t and then when I listen to you, you make sense. Keep it that way and thank you.

Thank you David Gergen for a very sincere article – president Bush has laid down the american people by siding with the industry in stead of the american people.

There is no time left to act.

This is the worst president America ever produce.

CNN is very fortunate to have David Gergen on their roster. We need more of him in our government, universities, and media.

If we had just told Bush there was oil on Mars and in the asteroid belt, we would have gotten plenty of funding for science and space programs.

David Gergen,

You are one of the few true political journalists on television today. While many call themselves unbiased, you actually are. In an industry becoming saturated with left wing and right wing journalists you are the voice I listen to.

I just hope we can believe Obama. Time will tell.

almos our life is dependent on science , so any sciencetific reseached should be funded to improved lifes. so go on Obama!

Finally! The world will go back to being round instead of flat. The ignorance, denial and hubris of the Bush administration, all because of self serving oil addicts, and the filthy money made from it, are finally going to be put in their place. A strong team of intellectuals, and a president that isnt wearing oil barrel goggles, will be a breath of fresher and less polluted air in our lungs. This last 8 years have been poison in the veins of this country. We may finally see the fall of this dependance on such a dangerous addiction, and the beginning of rehabilitation towards a cleaner, more prosperous way of living.

If Bush has proved anything, it is that the President of the United States must have a high intellect coupled with intellectual curiosity. Simply put, Bush is a dummy. Sarah Palin is cut from the same cloth! Barack Obama is laying the groundwork for a resurgence of American science and technology. Let us hope that his selectees are as practical as they are theoretical.

David Gergen you are one of the few analysts on CNN that I pay attention to. Most of the others are second guessers, speculators and partisan hacks who do nothing to enhance journalism.

As one who is inclined towards a scientific approach to things I have to whole heartedly agree with Mr. Gergen. I work in the tech sector and I’ve seen the precipitous fall of US technological / scientific dominance over the past 8 years and just wondered (aloud at times) what the hell Bush was doing. Didn’t he realize that the strength of our nation is not predicated on how much we can consume but on how widely we can disperse our ideas?? Bush’s refusal to look science in the eyes is yet another reason why much of the world looks at us not so much with disdain but with bewilderment (and thus doubt). How could we have strayed so far from the path that has served us so well for so long? I am just glad that Obama has chosen to appoint folks who seem significantly clued into reality (turns out that is rarer than I thought) and also appear to be highly capable.

I don’t think the majority of people in this country have had any clue just how clueless our current administation has been about environmental issues, science research issues, and practically any form of medical research. This includes, unfortunately, many of our lawmakers.

I’m cautiously optimistic about the future administration recognizing the absolute necessity of joining the Kyoto Accord to reduce worldwide carbon monoxide emissions, and to do what is possible to salvage many species brought to the virtual brink of extinction by our own shortsightedness. I’m also hopeful that the American people will truly take to heart the necessity to reseach and use alternate forms of energy, reduce strip mining and deforestation, and save some of our wild areas that, under President Bush, have become vulnerable to exploitation. Drilling offshore where dozens of species of fish use the area to mate and spawn is so counterproductive to being good stewards of our land and oceans! Opening vast expanses of our National Parks for lumbering, mining, and oil/gas drilling could kill off the use of those lands by future generations.

I pray that President Elect Obama will use the tools at hand, including President Bush’s favorite, the executive order, to reverse some of these disastrous decisions.

Stem cell technology is to the medical community what the invention of the microchip is to the computer industry. We must remove all road blocks built on shaky ethical principles and think of the good we can do with this science on every front; medical, economical, nation security (etc.). Funding embryonic stem cell research will create a whole new industry and help get this country up on its feet again.

Another suggested reading is “The Republican War on Science.” It is a good read. There is too much in the way of ideology pointing to where the science should be looking. I guess this is what we get for some who has very little intellectual and scientific curiousity.

Hello David:

I have followed your comments throughout the primaries to and including the election. You always give an indepth and thoughful summation based on evidence-based scientific data.

As a public Canadian employee, I totally agree with you comments.
In this epoch of scientific and technological age, it behooves American to use the best resources they have in this field.

Thanks again for your comments.

Another Canadian for Obama.

Kudos! However, I noticed this article doesn’t mention one of the most important scientific debates to take places during the Bush Presidency – Creationism vs. Evolution. I would love to see Obama declare the truth once and for all: Evolution is a fact of all life. Evolution does not necessarily discount nor disprove God. It’s hard to swallow that we live in a society where the truth can be skewed in favor of a religious “wish list”. If this is change we can actually believe in, then it’s about time we stop catering to religious Conservative groups and start living with nothing but the truth!

As someone who has always expected our President to be smarter than I am, it is truly great to see a president who understands that our science policy needs to be proposed and executed by outstanding scientists

It’s about time that our best and brightest are in positions of leadership.

This does not surprise me. At least we now have a president in office chosen by the people and not shady politics ( Palm Beach county election) . Perhaps this administration will allow top leaders in their respective fields to be heard, actually taking their view into consideration, a key element of a true democracy.

I simply love David Gergen’s commentary, candor, class and distinctiveness.

If God had wanted humans to fly He would have given us wings–or minds that can grow & expand our understanding of this wondrous & mysterious world & universe which He has created.

Thank you for bringing attention to this topic. It is key to protecting our future, both environmentally and economically. We cannot compete and lead in the future without moving our thinking and understanding forward. It is also high time that public policies on health, the environment, etc was based upon evidence and scientific knowledge rather than ancient superstition and existing business interest.

It has been a refreshing change to watch Obama put together his team. The focus has been on qualified people rather than cronies. While I do not expect miracles I cannot help but expect our country to move in the right direction again. What a pleasant change after the past 8 years.

Bush and his administration has in the past few weeks put into place changes to regulations governing the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act making it easier for development and coal projects to skip the scientific review now required for licenses to mine coal and for development of projects to determine the impact on the environment and on any endangered wildlife in the area. These changes which were pushed through so they will be in effect before Obama’s inauguration will gut both Acts and sacrifice our environment and its occupants to greater harm than it suffers now.

The regulations “tweaked” for the Clean Water Act will make it possible for mountaintop removal mining to continue uninterrupted in the mountains of Appalachian filling the streams and headwaters of streams with valley fill. Fresh water streams will continue to be destroyed; up to this point the amount of fresh water streams that have already been destroyed by these practices equals the length of the Ohio River. Similarly for Endangered Species the required review mandated in the Act previously will be able to be bypassed so that drilling and development of some of our most bio-diverse refuges can be undertaken without the review and planning of how to impact the area and its wildlife as little as possible. This will open up areas like the Alaska Wildlife Refuge to Big Oil and other companies who would like to profit off the natural resources of the area without regard to the wildlife or people dependent on the wildlife in that area.

I hope Obama will reverse these changes and have his scientists look at what really needs to be done in these areas. Hopefully, its not too late to arrest the destruction that Bush and his friends in Big Oil and Big Coal have been responsible for.

If and Whenever Mr Gergen is in any panel, his take on any issue is always to the point. I love his insight on issues just as he points out here. It is not too late to begin again. I am a Canadian who just happen to love Barack Obama and i think he will make great improvements in US relations with other countries.

The O-Man is for anything that profits his banker paymasters.

Since when does Science require government support?

Sounds more like people crying for money.

If it is as important as folks seem to think it is why doesn’t private foundations fund the research? Why is only government assistance required.

How can you claim James Hansen of NASA has been silenced? He has give well over 1,400 interviews. How is that being silenced.

Bush acknowledges the costs of Kyoto-style cap and trade are enormous and there are zero climate benefits. How it is “scientific” to do something just to do it? That’s not rationale.

As usual, claims that Bush is anti-science are not supported by actual data. But it make a nice story, but not a factual one.

The scientific community is rallying about Obama because they want money. I like money too, but I don’t ask the taxapayer for it.

Let common sense and respect for true science research and its benfefits prevail. Science and discoveries made this nation great and we need to regain that leadership and help this world go forward. I have great hope in Obama and his approach.

Obama listens to Gore and IPCC, who are more political than scientific. You are doing the same thing you accuse Bush of. Won’t a scientist skeptical of your views be just as exasperated?

This is fantastic…and it fills me with hope. I’d love to post this on my Facebook page, but 75% of my “friends” on Facebook are Biblical Creationists…and I already infuriated them enough with my Obama profile pics and rants. A return to intelligence in the White House. Who’d believe it.

And when the oil companies start going out of business, then what?

Keep watching…

Of course, this all assumes that it’s solely the Government’s responsibility to finance new research. Our pharmaceuticals might cost a fortune but there was no drop in research during the Bush administration. Instead, if we want an advance in stem cells it seems that we have to cry to dear old Uncle Sam and beg for a new lab.

Maybe it’s time to stop relying solely on the government to decide where our dollars go. It don’t seem particularly adept at making such weighty decisions.

Not to defend Mr. Bush but never said you could not do Stem Cell Research. He just said the Government should not pay for it. Why should the Government pay for everything. You all should read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ to see what happens when the Government takes over all Science Research.

the previous bush administration has damanged our country and the world more than any terrorist could have ever hoped for. from the enviornment to the war on terror they HAVE DONE NOTHING RIGHT. and and committed many crime felonies like turning in our own spies, like torturing people, like attacking the wrong country thru lies(irak). the fruits of thier ignorant cruel arrogance is just beginning to wreak its havock on our country. lies to a loser war by chicken hawks who sold the enviornment and the economy right down the river. you dont know how sad it is YET. still upset , tommy

Cudos to Gergen…the man amongst boys pretending to be men! YOu are consistently the voice of reason even though at times I’m at odds with your views. I always look to have you weigh in on the issues of the day because I know you will have thought them through and your opinions will be grounded in fact. As a medical scientist I’m glad to see that Obama nation is embrassing science as a significant/crucial component of our finding our way back to the head of the class. What a relief to have smart folk back in leadership. Go Obama! Gergen counting on you to keep the honest and on track.

If you actually look at the facts, the Republicans under Bush increased funding (esp. NIH!) more than any Democratic congress ever has. Under Clinton the US pulled out of the ITER effort, and it rejoined under Bush. And the biggest increases in the physical sciences was proposed under the Bush administration, in the form of the ACT – using your key phrase above, “..Congress refused to fund it.” – thats a Democratic controlled congress – and they did it just to spite Bush, instead of passing an enourmous increase in science funding. Anyone in the APS knows that. If you don’t know what ITER, ACT, and APS are, you shouldn’t be contemplating the subject. And now we keep hearing rumors that Obama is going to cut the Constellation program. (Thats NASA – under Cliton it faired awful with Goldin as director, it has flourished again under a Griffin, an actual scientist). So I guess ignorance is bliss for all of you.

This is wonderful news for the health of our nation. The National Institutes of Health is the premier organization for the advancement of our understanding of disease and of new treatments. Bush’s anti-science platform and ignorance have had an unfortunate consequence in stagnating needed advancement of medical science. We applaud President Obama and his advisors.

Just because little has been released on studies of warming and energy independence over the last 8 years does not mean that efforts have not been being made to plan for the future. “The Manhattan 2 Project” is a privately run group with engineers, computer modelers, and visionaries who have been hard at work planning for the future. To learn more visit SolarTransfer or Manhattan2 for just a hint at what we have been up to.

Obama’s choices of scientific advisors simply reflects his bias towards the fear-mongering “global warming” experts that he favors. Here’s a hint; natural variation in global temperatures.

Hope you are right!
However, talk is cheap. We shall see Pres. Obama’s commitment to the scientific progress of the US when he proposes new budgets for the NIH, NSF etc.
Until then, his advisers can rant and rave about global warming until they are blue in the face ( anybody noticed how cold it is outside?)

Not to mention the war against access to contraception and plan B.

Simply more reasons to separate church and state. I don’t want someone’s religious views, even if I agree with them, to stand in the way of cures and treatments that could extend life and/or alleviate human suffering.

This is absurd. The socialist-environmental lobby has turned global warming into a fanatical religion devoid of science. If the world gets hotter it’s global warming. If it gets colder it’s global warming. If it stays the same it’s global warming. Faith of the existence of man-made global warming has replaced science and fact. It is now a political and pseudo-religious movement that ignores all science or evidence.

Global warming is not man-made.

Climate change is a natural cyclical pattern driven by solar output and has existed for billions of years.

On stem-cell research, Bush only prohibited government subsidies and support for embryonic stem cell research. PRIVATE research is still legal and readily available.

So let it be known, so let it be written; This planet is filled with people who are misguided about the real and rational understanding of this creation and how it works. Science “not RELIGION” is the salvation to our existence, if we as humans don’t grow away from the misguided untruths we allowed RELIGION to inundate us with we wll be doomed! Get smart go science!!

As an NIH researcher, I can tell you medical research has not suffered like this in over 15 years. Bush cut the NIH budget so horribly that we lost a generation of bright and ambitious scientists. (Under Clinton, roughly the top %16 of grant applications were funded, while under Bush, it has been reduced to roughly 7%…. a level too competitive to sustain even the best and most productive laboratories). I hope Obama’s administration will invest in the remaining hardy few who survived Bush…. including me. Without a drastic and sudden increase in the NIH budget, our nation will certainly lose our position as medical research leaders.

I love David Gergen and that he is not a typical talking head but a real scholar. Also, I am pleased to know that science will have a place in government again. Thank goodness someone believes that intelligence is NOT a disease….for once.

Really we need to just label Bush in the way he already labeled himself, an obsessive evangelical christian. There is no arguing with these people because most of them don’t even understand concepts such as ‘logic’ or ‘reason’, things that the rest of us take for granted. They see the world through a starry-eyed “God will save everything yeaayyy!!!” mentality. I predict that if we continue on the same trend we are currently on, America’s downfall will not linked simply to Bush and his religiosity, but to the entire evangelical christian movement and the moderate christians that allow for the hardcores to have the power that they do.

Top scientists haven’t been silenced by the administration, it has been silenced by the media promoting global warming for their own agendas. The junk science that they have been promoting will do more damage in the long run to our economy and our lives.

…and you can have a beer with a scientist, too!

Anyone who mentions “science” and “man-made global warming” in the same sentence doesn’t have any credibility, Mr. Gergen.

Finally … an informed and cogent voice from the wilderness.

Go science!!!!!

What is science? LOL just kidding!

Great work Obama!!

It will be nice to have scientist around President Obama who know the difference between Speculation – Hypothesis – Theory – Proven Fact. As for global warming I suggest your readers go to: U.S. Senate Minority Report: “More than 650 International Scientist Dissent over Man-made Global Warming Claims” by Senator InHofe.

Once again,David Gergen’s comentary is spot on! Obama is keeping his promise to appoint brightest,the best,the most educated people without political ideologies.That certainly wasn’t the case in the last eight years.

It is about time we get back on the right track and let science help lead this nation to a brighter future. President Bush has been horrible for the U.S. in so many ways.

great observation Davide, you always tell the truth keep up the good work.

How long can our industrial-based prosperity survive now that the global warming liars and idiots are in charge? James Hansen is a proven member of both groups (liar and idiot). As the globe freezes down these fools will continue to propagate the global warming myth. They will, if allowed, destroy our energy industries and consequently our economy that supports a growing mass of social parasites. How will the parasites have their houses air conditioned, their bellys filled and their health care provided after our industrial base collapses? Wind freaking mills?

This kinds of articles frighten me. I’m glad the Obama administration will make strides to improve the science-environment in this country but he won’t be in office forever and I don’t think that one or even two terms will be able to reverse the damage done by the current administration. I just hope Obama is the “start” of something new for this country or we’re in for a very tough future. I give him the benefit of the doubt but I hope people understand that Obama can lay down the foundation for a brighter future but there are always the “Sarah Palin’s” of the world lurking around the corner who don’t believe in global warming and are looking to exploit any mistakes Obama might make to take us back into the scientific dark ages where making quick bucks trumps science.

“I would love to see Obama declare the truth once and for all: Evolution is a fact of all life.”

Yes. Because Obama declaring this would bring an end to all discussion. PLEASE.

Hopefully the next step is to remove the myth of “intelligent design” that was dispursed in the educational system of the past 8 years.

Can we have it both ways? Can we have a massive economic rescue plan, and have plenty of money for the advancement of science (not only in the laboratory, but in the classroom!) ?

Can we do it? Can we provide medical care for every American, ensure a quality education for our children, recreate the millions of jobs (and then some!) lost these past few years, while ensuring the safety of America from those who want to destroy us?

In truth, I don’t think “Can we do it?” is even a question. Instead, we must in one loud voice boldly proclaim, “We must do it, and we must not fail!!!”

Science! Change we can believe in!

THANK GOD!!

David Gergen is always clear, concise and factual. His commentaries on CNN are like beacons of light on any topic. Finally, science and technology will assume its rightful place in American government and try to undo the damage created by Bush, the GOP, and most of all right-wing religious conservatives. Favorite David Gergen moment:
During the last election, David Gergen was asked how McCain could make up the deficit he had suffered during the campaign especially after his faux-pas of trying to cancel the first debate. Gergen answered blithely “Hell if I know!” You go, David!

Creationism vs. Evolution is not a scientific debate. Macroevolution and religion are faith. See Darwin’s writings on the subject. Not that I do not respect the human pursuit of truth, but come on, we are no closer to knowing what’s going on than 150 years ago. Answers only reveal more mysteries.

Also, while I’m glad we will be stepping out of the dark ages of the Bush administration, all of these “mankind is the problem” global warming appointments are disconcerting. Hopefully that fear will be unrealized and we won’t be swimming in carbon taxes.

Thank you David Gergen! For years this administration, has been quietly destroying inroads of our scientific community going with political appointees who just did not do anything. Science is why our counrty went to the moon, invented unlimited tools for mankind, saved lives in operating rooms and discovered drugs to help mankind. Under Bush and his zealots, we have gone intentionally backwards. Why are these people not being prosecuted for negligent performance of their work? Why are they in positions without any qualifications? We can only hope PE Obama weeds these useless entities out of their position and puts the right people back in so we can once again lead the world in science and technology!

January 20, 2009 can’t come soon enough. Thank you, David Gergen, for putting this in perspective.

Man-Made global warming is a myth and a hoax that solely exists for groups to get their hands on grant money and to bolster their own agendas.

The earth has been icefree before, when man didn’t exist. When man wasn’t an industrial society. How can you blame man for what has happened before when they weren’t here?

The earth has cooled every single year since 1999.

Man is only responsible for under half of a percent of all the greenhouse gas emissions on the planet.

Oceans are CO2 scrubbers that remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

Whether the earth warms or not, it is not because of man’s activities. Any sensible, logical look at the facts dictates that simple fact.

Sadly so many are brainwashed that this hysteria is going to snowball and cause economic depressions where there doesn’t have to be.

So, now we can bow to the god of science. How exciting… I can hardly wait, NOT!! Micro evolution may be a fact of life, as in different varieties of dogs, but macro evolution, dogs becoming horses, that is just too ridiculous to believe. And where are the facts for that one? Any, repeat, ANY fossil evidence of half dog half horse out there? No? Just what I thought. And any living evidence of one specie becoming another completely different specie? No? Just what I thought. Enjoy your god of science and let me enjoy the one, true God of the universe, the Creator God.

Uh, science caused the holocaust. Scientists made the gas chambers. Science is bad. I ain’t come from no monkey! God made me and everything there is, not only that, but I know HOW he did it cuz the Bible says so in real plain English, and if English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me! Science is the devil and Obama is the anti-christ, long live Bush!

Science and technological innovation made america the great country it is. However we have now been dominated by emerging countries who value science and math much more than we do now, which is a contributing factor to america’s decline.

schools need to stress math and science much more than they do now and it starts with an executive administration that values science and its search for the truth.

At least one of the points Mr. Gergen mentions is not a squabble over science but over bioethics.

The Bush administration’s opposition to embryonic stem cell research is a matter of ethics. You can agree or disagree that it is unethical to kill embryos for the sake of research, but you can’t say that it’s fundamentally a scientific disagreement.

The human race reserves perhaps its biggest scorn and disgust for animals who fowl their nests. Look in the mirror humans! It is going to be expensive to clean up the mess that we are putting ourselves in but it will be more expensive the longer we wait. Indeed, if we wait too long we may hit a tipping point where no amount of effort or money can fix it. Hopefully this new team will inspire the nation to do the right things fand clean up our only nest.

Perhaps this unparalleled team of scientists can illuminate for all the nay-sayers that have had Bush and his “head-in-the-sand” gang supporting their ignorance and denial that global warming can indeed cause the extremes of weather we have been witnessing around the world for the last decade. Global warming does not necessarily mean that the temperature in your little corner of the world will increase noticeably. It means the average of the globe’s temperature will increase – which is already creating stronger hurricanes, desertification and changes in the jet stream and ocean currents. I would like to suggest that Obama’s team of scientists convene a once-weekly television program that will tackle a different aspect of science each week. Since Americans insist on believing what they see on TV, perhaps this vehicle can be used to set the record straight and to enlist the support of the populace to heal the wounds we have inflicted upon our Earth.

Conservatives have their use, they ride the brakes while progressive people respond to the simple truth that things change, and one has to change with them or become extinct. Oh yes, things change, whether one likes it or not. The planet ages, new discoveries are made, the population expands in proportion to and because of human successes.

I have been horrified the last 8 years. It will be nice to see anything resembling sanity guiding our political power.

Finally. The Dark Ages are once again coming to an end.

[...] AndersonCooper360: n coming months, public attention will heavily focus on the performance of Barack Obama’s economic and national security teams, but over the long haul, his new team in science and technology could do even more to shape the country’s future. They will arrive not a moment too soon. [...]