What a Bush Veto Would Mean for Stem Cells

George W. Bush seldom suffered personally from doing what's unpopular politically. In fact, you could argue that he has made a career of it, holding fast to positions that many voters reject, as a sign of strength in these dangerous times. So his willingness to exercise his first-ever veto this week on a bill that would expand federal funding for human embryonic-stem-cell research, which 2 out of 3 voters favor, is not just a way to stroke his political base. "People like leadership much better than a finger in the wind," says White House press secretary Tony Snow. As Bush explained to him while in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the G-8 summit last week, "I took a position. I believe in it. So that's what I'm going to do."

But most Republicans are not George Bush--among other things, they still need to get re-elected--which is why, as a Northeastern G.O.P. official said, the issue of stem-cell research could be "a stinker" for the party. "When you're portrayed as arguing against treatment of disease," he admits, "it's a tough place to be politically." Democrats, who overwhelmingly support expanded research, seem happy with the looming veto as a consolation prize; some were already running ads. "It's going to be a symbol of standing in the way of progress," says Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel, whose job it is to get Democrats re-elected. "This is a game changer in a lot of districts." As for patients, present and future, who have a personal stake in the fight, the good news is that the fate of the bill may not mean as much as either side suggests.