Who's in charge of science under Obama? - November 18, 2008
Barack Obama has 62 days before he assumes the presidency of the United States, but he’s already moving into the Oval Office mentally, if not physically.
For the time being, Obama has hunkered down in his hometown of Chicago, noting that only one person can be president at a time. But his transition team is hugely busy here in Washington, filling up rented office space across the street from one of the buildings belonging to the National Academy of Sciences. All eyes are focused on who Obama might name to head the Office of Science and Technology Policy – otherwise known as the president’s science adviser. The money is on someone with a sterling scientific pedigree (possibly including a Nobel prize) and someone already well known to Obama. Who’s your best guess? Leave your thoughts in the comment thread below.
Over the past few days the team has announced who’ll be in charge of assessing potential nominees to positions important to science (Politico, also earlier Nature story). In overall charge for the science, technology and space agencies is Tom Wheeler, a telecommunications expert and managing director for the venture capital firm Core Capital Partners.
Under Wheeler are a constellation of advisers, mostly an amalgam of people left over from Obama’s presidential campaign and those left over from even farther in the past – the Clinton administration. You can find the rest of the team leads here.
They include former Gore advisor Jim Kohlenberger helping to oversee the National Science Foundation transition, and former Clinton official Lori Garver overseeing NASA. Those in charge of National Institutes of Health issues include former NIH chief and top Obama science adviser Harold Varmus, as well as bioethicist Alta Charo.
Meanwhile, there’s plenty of speculation about a soon-to-be-created position of Chief Technology Officer. Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google who is on Obama’s transition team, gave a speech in Washington today – and resolutely said he would leak not a word about the incoming administration. Gossip around town does, however, suggest that this job will be a strategic policy position in charge of implementing Web 2.0 tools to help government function better.
Obama also sent a strong message today to those who are watching what he’ll do on the climate front. In a video address to a governors’ summit on climate change, Obama reiterated his campaign commitment to setting up a cap-and-trade system to reduce US greenhouse emissions 80 percent by 2050. “My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change,” he said in his address, available at many places including Dot Earth.
But how will that chapter go down in Congress? Probably pretty well, considering that the cap-and-trade-friendly Democrats hold majorities in both houses. That's not to say the new Congress is without its internecine battles. Today, Connecticut senator Joseph Lieberman was stripped of his chairmanship of an Environment and Public Works subcommittee that handles global-warming issues. This despite the fact that Lieberman has in recent years co-authored some of the leading climate change legislation. His sin? Supporting John McCain (his partner in crime on that legislation) during the presidential race.
The Democrats did let Lieberman maintain his chairmanship of an important homeland security committee – a gesture widely seen as trying to convince Lieberman, an independent, to continue to caucus with the Democrats, which gives them a 51-49 majority in the Senate.
For anyone not resolutely sick of American politics yet, it's a great time to be in Washington.
Comments
All eyes are focused on who Obama might name to head the Office of Science and Technology Policy – otherwise known as the president’s science adviser. Well! As regards medicine, I hope that all eyes, including Obama's eyes,of course, are focused on who has realized that today's epidemics as Diabetes, CVD and Cancer are increasing in spite of present primary prevention type, applied on ALL individuals, overloking costitutions and inherited real risks, bedside recognized since birth with a simple stethoscope: www.nature,com, About Biophysical Semeiotic Constitutions
http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2007/09/acupuncture_better_than_medici_1.html#comments
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http://blogs.nature.com/nm/spoonful/2008/06/menu_labeling_preaching_to_the.html#comments
http://network.nature.com/blogs/user/UE19877E8/2008/02/14/in-which-i-get-roped-in-open-lab-2008
http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/02/confusion_after_diabetes_study.html#comments
http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/02/confusion_after_diabetes_study.html#comments
http://blogs.nature.com/nm/spoonful/2008/03/gout_gene.html
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Posted by: Sergio Stagnaro MD | November 19, 2008 10:52 AM