No Morality Here

Rejecting the idea that there is a conflict between science and morality, President Obama yesterday reversed the Bush ban on federally funded embryonic stem cell research. The scientific community was predictably euphoric, echoing the President’s words which clearly imply that, at least for the foreseeable future, moral and ethical issues will not be allowed to stand in the way of research. It’s troubling to think that a President of the United States can be so naive. In the same breath that he denounced the supposed conflict between science and morality, Mr. Obama assured the American public that sufficient safeguards would be put in place to ensure that stem cell research does not contribute to human cloning, for, as the President insisted, there is no place for cloning in our society. Because it’s not scientific, I suppose? Surely the President doesn’t have moral scruples against cloning, which is just, after all, science in another field? I don’t know; he seemed pretty firm about it. like he was, you know, convinced that cloning was maybe not appropriate for our society, maybe even, immoral? Evil? Mr. Obama is a smart man. He is not naive; he is