I think (and you may call it arrogant of me to think that the American scientific community would even support such an advance of ethical comfort with basic research) that the biggest advance in stem cell research will come from advanced proteomics. A form of "proteoconstructionism" if you will. There are unending masses of potential in polymerase substrate for producing our own proteins and perhaps even our own blastular cells. Why use viral vectors and bacterial vectors when we could mass produce our own in much more controlled environments than vats of bacterium for our insulin injections? We could directly produce our own drugs in our own bodies.
Sorry about the tangent. I hold firmly to the belief that ventures into things (as marred by the media as they are) such as producing viable stem cells is worth the risk, money, and time. Too much focus is on unification and preservation and the like. I say we need more advances in our capabilities as scientists and the capabilities those who benefit from our discoveries. If there are technicians willing to tackle something as daunting as stem cell research, I give them my blessing.