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Today's Washington Post has an article about Obama's delay in using Executive Order to lift the ban on ESCR. It features PAN CEO Amy Comstock Rick, who is quoted in her capacity as President of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR).

Scientists Await Action on Stem Cells

"Proponents expected Obama to lift the restriction in his first week in office, when he issued a flurry of executive orders to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, make government less secretive and lift a ban on funding international family planning groups that support abortion, among other things.

"We were surprised and disappointed it wasn't in there," said Amy Comstock Rick of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, which has been leading the lobbying effort to lift the restriction. "We're wondering why it's taking so long."

Advocates on both sides still expect Obama to act. Obama repeated his promise in a private meeting with House Democrats last week, and top adviser David Axelrod said on "Fox News Sunday" that the president is "considering" an executive order and will act soon.

But the delay and the vague language are making proponents nervous. Has Obama simply been too preoccupied with the economic crisis to focus on the issue? Is he hesitant to wade into one of the flashpoints of the culture wars? Could he even be considering a moderate move as part of his broad strategy of seeking the middle ground on even the most contentious issues?

"The word the president is 'considering' it is too vague a word for me," Rick said. "I don't know entirely what that means. If it means he's just working out the details, that's great. But if 'considering' means 'reconsidering' we would be very upset.""

Read the whole article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews