Let me contribute some points as a molecular biologist here.
Why the ban prevented the research (even privately funded) from going forward: Under the ban the researchers could not use any facilities constructed with the help from the government for the stem cell research even if research itself was privately funded. Given that most of the labs are constructed on federal dime (usually NIH) for a while nobody could do any ES cell research at all. Some universities had to construct new buildings in order to do this research- slowing the studies for several years.
Why not let private industry do the research without the feds: You would be surprised but most of research leading to drug development is done in academia on NIH grants. Pharma companies mostly do development, testing, clinical trials/FDA stuff. But the basic research leading to identification of targets is mostly government funded. Why are we better than France here? Because US govt spends more money on NIH and grants.
While adult derived stem cells will likely be used for therapies, they are not exactly the same as ES cells. They are produced by introducing (transfecting) certain genes into adult cells. This transfection is likely to screw them up - make them prone to become cancer, for example. We need ES cells at least to be able to be able to study the difference between adult stem and ES cells and how to make good ES like cells.