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Moral Clarity in a Time of Murkiness, Chaos, and Tumult
Charles Krauthammer is exactly right: the President took a moral stand and was vindicated on stem cell research.
Stem Cell Vindication
“If human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough.”
– James A. ThomsonA decade ago, Thomson was the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells. Last week, he (and Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka) announced one of the great scientific breakthroughs since the discovery of DNA: an embryo-free way to produce genetically matched stem cells.
Even a scientist who cares not a whit about the morality of embryo destruction will adopt this technique because it is so simple and powerful. The embryonic stem cell debate is over.
Which allows a bit of reflection on the storm that has raged ever since the August 2001 announcement of President Bush’s stem cell policy. The verdict is clear: Rarely has a president — so vilified for a moral stance — been so thoroughly vindicated.
Why? Precisely because he took a moral stance. Precisely because, to borrow Thomson’s phrase, Bush was made “a little bit uncomfortable” by the implications of embryonic experimentation. Precisely because he therefore decided that some moral line had to be drawn . . . .
The same is true in Iraq and the larger war on terror.
Thank God for the moral clarity of George W. Bush.