President Replaces Two on Bioethics Council

By Executive Order in 2001, President Bush created the Council of Bioethics to advise him on emerging bioethical issues caused by advances in science and technology. On Friday, the President removed two members and named three new ones.

The dismissed members were Elizabeth Blackburn, a biologist at the University of California at San Francisco, and William May, an emeritus ethics professor at Southern Methodist University. Both generally disagree with conservatism and the President causing the council to be troubled by internal contentiousness.

Newly appointed were Benjamin Carson, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins University; Diana Schaub, Political Science Department chair at Loyola College in Maryland; and Peter Lawler, a professor of government at Berry College in Georgia.

Loud voices, led by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), are claiming the President is playing politics.

Really? Politics? In Washington?

I personally think it's less about politics and more about pragmatism. The President put together a team of people to get something done. After it became clear that the team wasn't producing as desired because of the composition, the President changed the composition. The moral of the story, if you want to be on the President's team, play ball.