A president with some scientific literacy?

NO!

As a fan of science and a skeptic of some aspects of R&D, I am in awe of this speech. There is a particular appreciation for science that I haven't seen in a presidential speech since I read JFK's talk about the launch to the moon (a ruse for nuclear weapons deployment mind you) or, for a brief moment, Clinton's wonder about Mars in the late 90s. Nonetheless, I am so glad to have a competent and articulate president who can work with specialists as a generalist.

My favorite parts:

The fact is an investigation into a particular physical, chemical, or biological process might not pay off for a year, or a decade, or at all. And when it does, the rewards are often broadly shared, enjoyed by those who bore its costs but also by those who did not.

...and...

Our future on this planet depends on our willingness to address the challenge posed by carbon pollution. And our future as a nation depends upon our willingness to embrace this challenge as an opportunity to lead the world in pursuit of new discovery.

...(I have some beefs with that but given the audience I pass them by) and...

Now, the nation that leads the world in 21st century clean energy will be the nation that leads in the 21st century global economy. I believe America can and must be that nation. But in order to lead in the global economy and to ensure that our businesses can grow and innovate, and our families can thrive, we’re also going to have to address the shortcomings of our health care system.

That is a highly dubious claim to say the least. "[L]eads the world..." I think not. We are followers here. It's fine to follow. But we have some major catching up to do.

But I have to say that I now find the following a bit odious:

Fifth, since we know that the progress and prosperity of future generations will depend on what we do now to educate the next generation, today I’m announcing a renewed commitment to education in mathematics and science. (Applause.) This is something I care deeply about. Through this commitment, American students will move from the middle of the top — from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math over the next decade — for we know that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow. And I don’t intend to have us out-educated.

The notion of competition in the United States is rather toxic. So much so that I think that our obeisance to science as a tool for competition is radically destructive. For all of Obama's talk on how much we need to improve in this or that, it might well fail without a good ethical realignment away from competitive market strategies and toward more cooperative and convivial arrangements.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why we spend so much money on super-colliders and do little in the way to increase genuine human efficiency in the procurement of our food in a sustainable fashion?

Anyway, this is someone who knows about the piecemeal work of science or, at the worst, has worked with people who know the piecemeal work. Unlike the last group of anti-intelligence nimrods that occupied the White House it seems like we are getting somewhere. How refreshing. Let's just hope that he extends the sustainable White House garden a bit more.

So, I end with Obama's closing, because it has some hope in it beyond the mechanical science and technology and math schooling he and others are hell-bent on gaining:

Yes, scientific innovation offers us a chance to achieve prosperity. It has offered us benefits that have improved our health and our lives — improvements we take too easily for granted. But it gives us something more. At root, science forces us to reckon with the truth as best as we can ascertain it.

And some truths fill us with awe. Others force us to question long-held views. Science can’t answer every question, and indeed, it seems at times the more we plumb the mysteries of the physical world, the more humble we must be. Science cannot supplant our ethics or our values, our principles or our faith. But science can inform those things and help put those values — these moral sentiments, that faith — can put those things to work — to feed a child, or to heal the sick, to be good stewards of this Earth.

We are reminded that with each new discovery and the new power it brings comes new responsibility; that the fragility, the sheer specialness of life requires us to move past our differences and to address our common problems, to endure and continue humanity’s strivings for a better world.

As President Kennedy said when he addressed the National Academy of Sciences more than 45 years ago: “The challenge, in short, may be our salvation.”