Obama puts science over politics by appointing scientists at key science positions

The Bush administration was accused of placing politics over science because of the way it dealt with the science agencies of the nation. The successor president has however reversed the stand of the Bush administration by appointing top scientists of the country at key science positions.

The fundamental change initiated by the newly elected President who is set to take office in the first month of 2009 has been welcomed by the science academy and the American public in general. Mr. Obama has proposed marine biologist Jane Lubchenco and Harvard physicist John Holdren at top science posts. The two gentlemen are experts on climatic change and have been advocating forceful government response.

The Harvard physicist will be playing the role of Obama’s science advisor as he has been appointed at the post of director of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. On the other hand the marine biologist Lubchenco has been appointed as the head of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This department is responsible for conducting all the government related research on global warming and is also in charge of ocean and atmospheric studies.

Holdren has also been tagged with the responsibility to direct the president’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. The Nobel Prize winning scientist Harold Varmus will also be joining him as the co-chairman. Harold has previously served as the director of the National Institute of Health. Eric Lander, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will also be joining them.

Obama was recorded as saying “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,” during his weekly radio address. He went further on to say “Leaders who not only invested in our scientists, but who respected the integrity of the scientific process.”

He said with regards to his choice of appointing the carefully chosen team of scientists “I could not have a better team to guide me in this work.”