The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman reports that President Obama's upcoming State of the Union address will be a sort of "Sputnik 2"--that is, a call for scientific and technological mobilization, of the kind that we saw in the wake of Sputnik, the first satellite launched into orbit, by the USSR, back in 1957.
That's fine and good, if Obama really pushes science and technology, as opposed to merely recycling "green jobs" and overall education spending.
But Serious Medicine Strategists, and their allies, the Hamiltonians, do face a challenge:
The public appears to think that the best place to make cuts is in infrastructure and science and medical spending. The screengrab below is from the latest NYT/CBS poll:
A reminder: The forces of science and medicine and progress always need to make their case to the public. That doesn't mean blind support for the status quo, of course, it means a serious look at the sort of scientific and medical research that is needed; that is, what is likely to pay off in ways that the American people will find persuasive.