In the age of Obama, liberal media distaste for former President Bush is freely flaunted, and not even the Times' Science section is immune. An "essay" on the section's front page Tuesday, "Elevating [1]Science, Elevating Democracy [1]" by science reporter Dennis Overbye, talked of his weeping relief that the incoming Obama administration would lift the "dark cloud" hanging over "the scientific community in this country." (Aren't people who use the distancing phrase "in this country" almostalways liberal?)
All right, I was weeping too.
To be honest, the restoration of science was the least of it, but when Barack Obama proclaimed during his Inaugural Address that he would "restore science to its rightful place," you could feel a dark cloud lifting like a sigh from the shoulders of the scientific community in this country.
When the new president went on vowing to harness the sun, the wind and the soil, and to "wield technology's wonders," I felt the glow of a spring sunrise washing my cheeks, and I could almost imagine I heard the music of swords being hammered into plowshares.
Wow. My first reaction was to worry that scientists were now in the awkward position of being expected to save the world. As they say, be careful what you wish for.