The Numbers

The president’s found another way not to endear himself to conservative Republicans - underscoring how difficult it is in practice to reach across the country's political divides.
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I do think he could endear himself to them unless he totally capitulated to their absurd demands. Of course he would find it hard to endear himself to other 70% of us.

I have misgivings about stem-cell research, on the other hand these embryos will be destroyed sooner or later.
I think we all could benefit from a little compassion.

Why should Obama even consider endearing himself to conservative Republicans on an issue for which he doesn't need their support?

All he needs to do is sign the executive order. He doesn't need to make compromises on this issue.

Conservative Republicans aren't going to approve of anything Obama does, so he might as well spend his political capital while he still has it.

What took the President so long to keep his campaign promise? As to the poll, what is a "mainline protestant"? Why is there no statistical category for "sidestreet protestants"?

To thinking: You aren't thinking. Its a democracy not a dictatorship. He will need our support. Look at the omnibus bill that was supposed sweep right through the senate. He already is spending his political capital and he won't have much left. You are mistaking our being obstructionist with our being principled. You don't just wake up one day and through your principles out the window because Obama is president and popular. I respect people that stand up for their principles even though they are the minority and have an uphill battle more that I have any respect for people that have no principles and kiss someones feet because he is the MESSIAH>

Like most of the issues where conservatives are playing the obstructionist game, an overwhelming majority of Americans are firmly in support of the president's position.

This is far from a 'controversial" decision by Obama.

Nancy Reagan and Orrin Hatch approve of this.

You can spin any topic depending how you ask the question...

Cure Scorecard
Adult Stem Cells: 100
Human Embryon Stem Cells: 0

So?

Obama is the guy who voted against medical care for babies who survived botched abortions. :(

He is pro-abortion, baby killing, and soon it will be euthanasia for the elderly and the disabled and the medically challenged...!

Apparently abortions are more cost effective than raising unwanted children and 95% of them are performed as a means of birth control!

Will science solve our problems? No - it won't help much because hard-hearted, selfish pragmatism overrules wisdom!

aware2u: And what exactly are you doing to raise unwanted children?

What you call "wisdom" is simply your own beliefs. The majority of people in this country have different beliefs than you do -- it doesn't make them hard-hearted or selfish.

No one is preventing you from acting on your beliefs.

If you don't believe in abortion, don't have one.

If you think unwanted children should be raised rather than aborted, adopt some.

And if you don't believe in stem-cell research, don't seek remedies for Parkinson's disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and other maladies that will arise from lifting the burden of (some people's) religious dogma.

This article is ill informed, George Bush supports stem cell research but withheld federal support on Embroyonic stem cell research. It is experimental. There is no proof it will work.Destroying young fetus to support another life(senile) is mind bogging.Unfortunately people dont engage in meaningful debate,everything is all politics.

Endear himself to conservatives? I don't think so. And who cares if he does anyway. They are the MINORITY now.

Life to Save Life has always been, and always will be a controversial issue. I personally believe that destroying a healthy embryo to save the life of someone is faulty. The person can still die of complications, and we could go through 1000's of embryos before we find any kind of a cure. As evil and mean-spirited as it seems, some diseases should'nt have cures. Plus if we cure all these diseases new ones will appear that are immune to current treatment. It's all part of life, one way or another it's going to kill you.
(I'm not religous by the way, or republican, so don't go on a tear about how religous bible thumping republicans are holding up progress)

President Obama is doing the right thing. At, long last America is moving forward again into the 21st. century. It almost appears as if all President Obama has to do in finding the right path is look at what the Religious Right neo-con stance is on any subject, and do the exact opposite! Lets exclude non-qualified religious figures from the Ethics Boards set up to oversee Stem Cell Research because clearly they are not experts in science or ethics!

Life to save a life? I'm all for scientific advancement, and the government ideally should not hinder that process. At the same time, I hope that our laws at least reflect the unwritten moral impulse/intuition to protect human life at its most helpless and innocent stages. The fact that we do not make that a priority, conservative or liberal, is a strong indicator of where we stand as a nation and how we value/perceive the meaning of freedom in our country. It says something about us. Could we be getting it wrong?

This bill was passed by the Senate and the House a few years ago but President Bush vetoed it. He or anyone else has no right to force their religious beliefs on anyone. It is a good bill and in the end will use the embreos which will be destroyed to help a person with a life threatening disease.

Adult stem cells and more recently umbilical stem cells have shown great promise. A 2008 study showed that using umbilical stem cells can help to slow the progression of Alzheimer's.

No, Obama has not conscious when it comes to the life of an embryo, life of a near term baby (partial birth delivery killings) and abortions (even advocates it if one of his daughter ever becomes pregnant.)

Is America really willing to sell their soul out for this charlatan president without a moral compass? He does what he does best and lies...about science, about the economy, and about everything else.

Its sad that we are so against research in this country. I have a live altering disease which might be changes by stem cell research. If these cells are discard and not used. What does it matter if used to advance science??
To be darn honest I don't care where they are from . It could be any of the three stem cells used in research that could cure me. I really don't care what type. Don't I or a sick child deserve a chance at life???
This society has no morals, the ones that do are different.
We now have a President who wants change and for our country to move forward and every place I have read to day. The moral fiber of the readers really stink.
No science is perfect that's thats why its studied and researched. I would not be here if not for research and or clinical trials in this country.
We really need to wake up and realize that this is not just about embroynic stem cell about forwarding the research of all of them.
Believe me when I have a stem cell transplant in the future. I pray that the research out there moves forward to help others.
There is progression and people need to go to and read about studies done since 1981 this isn't something new.

This is not about religious beliefs that is the most ignorant thing any one can say. Its about not understanding whats taking place. So life lost should not save a life.
To be honest. I watched my daughter and son in law donate umbilical cord blood of my grand daughters. It would be discarded with the placenta. So throw it away when it can help another child??
Its just insane. I say save a life if and when we can. Who are we to say its wrong?
I m betting if you had a deadly life altering disease like I do..and many I know, things and thinking would change.

No one is disallowing research, just using their tax dollars to support it. Using a taxpayer's hard earned monies to promote something they morally object to is wrong. Science has had great successes with adult stem cells and research has continued in private facilities with embryonic cells. But forcing people against their moral beliefs and use federal dollars goes against all basic human decency; as does using tax payer dollars to fund abortions. No one is saying you can't have an abortion, but morally I don't want to have any part of it and don't want money I worked for to pay for something I abhor. The same thing is happening in hospitals, requiring medical personnel to perform destruction of life if that hospital receives any federal funds. That could be seen as violating their hippocratic oath. A huge personal dilemma perpetuated by the government. WRONG!

This is absolutely the right thing to do. This is a democratic government. All you have to do is read the statistics above and see that the majority of this country (59% who approve, versus the 35% that oppose it). This is democracy in action. This is what the people want. This is why they voted for Obama. This isn't a theocracy where your personal religious preferences take precedence over democracy! If you want theocracy, move to Vatican City.

When my husband and I married 16 years ago I had a 6 year old daughter. We tried right away to have kids together and eventually had to turn to fertility treatments. We had 11 IUI's and three Invetro fertilizations. The doctor asked us how we felt about selective reduction. I told him I could not do it, that they were my babies and they were staying. He responded you can have 4 and no more. We had 4 implanted and froze 8. We were blessed with a son in 1997. Six months later I became ill and went to the doctor. To our amazement I was pregnant. In 1998 we had a beautiful daughter born with Down Syndrome. When our embryos had been frozen 5 years we had to decide what to do with them. I so wanted those babies but I had to think about what was best for my other kids and any babies we would bring in to this world. We had a teenager we wanted to send to college soon, a child with special needs and a boy in the middle wanting his attention as well. Do we dare take the risk of multiples? Our embryos could help our daughter.
It was a heart wrenching decision. We decided we wanted them to go to stem cell research to study Alzheimer’s. Our daughter with Down Syndrome is at high risk for this as an adult. Because there was no federal money to research Stem cells we could not find anyone that would use them. We finally donated them to fertility research. I think being able to donate them to Stem cell research would help many other people that have to make this heart wrenching decision. To feel like their embryos are not being destroyed out of vain. After seeing what this women with 14 kids has done, with out any regard to anyone but herself makes me feel for the first time that we made the right decision.