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There is a difference between Obama wanting to base his decisions on actual scientific evidence (when available) and turning the decision making process itself

• anamax 18y ago
  > turning the decision making process itself (ie. policy) into a science, which is what Eisenhower was fearing there Huh? Eisenhower didn't say anything about making decision making into a science, let alone warn about doing so. (Note that operations research and the like, that is science/math aided decision tools, were a huge part of Allied success in WWII, something that Eisenhower presumably knew something about.) Instead, he warned about the "danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite." Elite is people and "scientific technological" tells describes them. In a later time, they were called "the best and the brightest". Eisenhower is warning about "back off man, I'm a scientist" and more subtle versions. Scientists will lab-coat personal preferences.