Obama Slams His Own Science Nominee
Washington,
D.C., March 12, 2009—President
Barack Obama this week indirectly attacked his own nominee for White House
Science Adviser, Dr. John P. Holdren, in remarks made when signing a
presidential memorandum on protecting scientific integrity in government
policy. President Obama said that the memorandum “is about ensuring that
scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda –
and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology.”
“President Obama’s goal is laudable, yet the scientist he
wants to put in charge of implementing this memorandum is Dr. John P. Holdren.
Dr. Holdren is the very model of a scientist who puts his political
agenda ahead of sound science,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute Director
of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell. “A long-time advocate of population control and
industrial de-development, most recently Dr. Holdren has distorted, concealed,
exaggerated, and misrepresented the scientific data in order to promote his
extreme global warming and energy-rationing agenda.”
“When it comes to science and public policy, President
Obama is confused,” said Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman. “On the one hand, he says that science policy
should be ‘based on facts, not ideology.’ On the other, he nominated an
ideologue of the apocalypse, Dr. John P. Holdren, to become White House Science
Adviser. Holdren achieved scientific notoriety by championing a variety
of unfounded doomsday scenarios, including ‘ecocide,’ global cooling, nuclear
winter, and now, ‘climate disruption.’ While Holdren’s science is kooky, his
record of policy prescriptions is terrifying. He advocated population control
and ‘de-development’ as solutions to his imagined ‘ecocatastrophes.’”
“The Senate should vote against confirming Dr. Holdren to
be the White House Science Adviser,” Ebell concluded. “Defeating Dr.
Holdren’s nomination will save President Obama much embarrassment and help
accomplish the President’s laudable objective of protecting scientific
integrity from political interference.”
For
further analysis of Holdren’s 40-year record of outlandish scientific
assertions, consistently wrong predictions, and dangerous public policy
choices, read the CEI Web Memo by William Yeatman,
“Dr. John P.
Holdren: ‘De-development’ Advocate is the Wrong Choice for White House Science
Adviser” (PDF).
CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan
public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited
government. For more information about
CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.