People who refuse to acknowledge “basic” proven facts are preventing the U.S. from being the most innovative country in the world, said President Obama in his weekly address Saturday.
Touting how his administration’s investments in science and technology have created new jobs and industries in America, Obama said the nation cannot move forward with innovation because some are standing in the way of progress.
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“That’s why it’s so backward when some folks choose to stick their heads in the sand about basic scientific facts. It’s not just that they’re saying that climate change a hoax or trotting out a snowball on the Senate floor,” Obama said in thinly veiled references to congressional Republicans and GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. “It’s that they’re also doing everything they can to gut funding for research and development, the kinds of investments that brought us breakthroughs like GPS, and MRIs, and put Siri on our smartphones.”
Obama said present-day science-deniers have no way to back up their claims. Obama, coming out of a week spent focusing on science and innovation, including a trip to the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh, said doubters should consult the past and take a cue from history.
“Remember, sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn’t deny Sputnik was up there. We didn’t haggle over the facts or shrink our R&D budget. No, we built a space program almost overnight and beat them to the moon,” Obama said. “And then we kept going, becoming the first country to take an up-close look at every planet in the solar system, too.”
The key to continued innovation in a post-Obama America, he said, is accepting science and utilizing it to discover and invent in the future.
“Only through science can we cure diseases, and save the only planet we’ve got, and ensure that America keeps its competitive advantages as the world’s most innovative economy,” Obama finished.
