Men of Science

September 15, 2008 1:37 PM

Wall Street is in crisis, south Texas is recovering from Hurricane Ike, there’s been a terrible train crash in California — in other words, the timing is terrible for a debate between the presidential candidates on science policy.

But Science Debate 2008, the group that has been pressing the campaigns for a year, got them to answer 14 questions, and the replies are posted today.  Go HERE for the full text.

In many ways, Sens. McCain and Obama sound alike on issues of climate, energy, and medical research — but there are differences of degree. 

Obama: “There can no longer be any doubt that human activities are influencing the global climate and we must react quickly and effectively.”

McCain: “We know that greenhouse gas emissions, by retaining heat within the atmosphere, threaten disastrous changes in the climate.”

Both men would favor market-based cap-and-trade systems to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases; McCain would reduce emissions 60 percent by 2050, while Obama would reduce them 80 percent. 

Obama would “increase federal investment in the clean energy research, development, and deployment by $150 billion over ten years.”  McCain says for “alternative energy sources…government must be an ally but not an arbiter.”  He says he’s voted against “the current patchwork of tax credits for renewable power because they were temporary, and often the result of who had the best lobbyist instead of who had the best ideas.  But the objective itself was right and urgent.”

McCain would “put the country on track to building 45 new reactors by 2030 so that we can meet our growing energy demand and reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases.”  Obama would favor, among other things, a “new generation of nuclear electric technologies that address cost, safety, waste disposal, and proliferation risks.”

Both say they favor embryonic stem-cell research, though both say they recognize the moral issues.  McCain says amniotic fluid and adult stem cell research “raise the hope that one day this debate will be rendered academic.”  Obama disagrees.  He mentions frozen embryos at IVF clinics that would otherwise be discarded: “it is ethical to use these extra embryos for research that could save lives when they are freely donated for that express purpose.”

There’s more — everyone’s in favor of more research, better education, etc., etc. — but you can’t help wondering if these big, long-term issues will get lost amid today’s news, and the daily jabs from the campaign trail.