Obama"s Decision to Kill Orion
I'm one of the folks who supported electing Barack Obama to the presidency.
It wasn't a hard choice given the alternatives but despite a lesser of two evils view on my part, I truly felt he was one of the best candidates to come down the pike in some time.
After an eloquent State of the Union address and his subsequent face to face drubbing of the GOP on their own turf the failures in the past year to produce significant improvements or changes in key legislation lost some of their sting.
I've found myself cautiously allowing a renewed sense of optimism to grow after a year of frustration.
Although opposition to his policies hasn't lessened his shift to a more aggressive posture suggested the leadership our broken political system needs is indeed now here.
Then I read about his administration's plans to gut NASA.
You can disagree, but his pending decision to cut funding for the Orion project is probably one of the most shortsighted and foolish decisions I've seen from a president in some time.
Since the Moon program's completion the United States has enjoyed immeasurable benefit from NASA's role as the leader in technological development and advancement.
A role that in the last 10 years has increasingly been threatened by the rising prominence of other nations space technology and their intense efforts to develop it beyond our own established capabilities.
In one of the only actions I've ever been able to accept without qualm from the previous administration, George Bush planted the seeds that could have given NASA the direction and incentive it needed to achieve even higher levels of technological achievement with his return to the moon directive.
With Obama's decision to cut Orion, and instead supply meager funding for what amounts to a holding pattern of status quo at NASA, our nations role as the leader in space technology, and indeed all technological development is in crisis.
In what appears a clear case of hypocrisy, Obama said in his State of the Union address when speaking about clean energy that if the United States is to compete on the national stage it must embrace new technology and be determined to be the leader in that technology.
While I do not disagree with this position and find it very intelligent and insightful I do find it hypocritical that he is selling the idea that our country must lead in development of critical technology, while killing one of the most critical areas of technological development this nation has.
Compounding this hypocritical appearance is the fact that NASA is a critical part of the Florida economy, and with the discontinuation of the Shuttle fleet will have no other option than the excising of a major portion of it's workforce.
Florida is experiencing one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, and it was not a week ago that president Obama appeared here in support of the high speed rail funding he promotes as a way to create jobs.
Forgetting that we do not even possess the technology to create a high speed rail without foreign assistance, this program is not going to be a permanent source for a significant number of jobs.
Not only will cutting Orion almost guarantee the loss of our technological superiority but there is no question whatsoever that it will kill jobs here in Florida.
Not only in Florida, but in other states that rely on the space program for valuable contracts.
NASA is an integral and irreplaceable part of our nation's ability to lead the world in technological development.
Obama's decision to cut funding for Orion amounts to nothing less than loss of that ability and a certainty that other nations will inevitably fill that position.
That alone is reason enough for his administration to rethink this part of his economic policy.
President Obama has said he is all about looking forward, but in this case I have to be honest and say that not only is he not looking forward, but ensuring that we will fall behind.
It wasn't a hard choice given the alternatives but despite a lesser of two evils view on my part, I truly felt he was one of the best candidates to come down the pike in some time.
After an eloquent State of the Union address and his subsequent face to face drubbing of the GOP on their own turf the failures in the past year to produce significant improvements or changes in key legislation lost some of their sting.
I've found myself cautiously allowing a renewed sense of optimism to grow after a year of frustration.
Although opposition to his policies hasn't lessened his shift to a more aggressive posture suggested the leadership our broken political system needs is indeed now here.
Then I read about his administration's plans to gut NASA.
You can disagree, but his pending decision to cut funding for the Orion project is probably one of the most shortsighted and foolish decisions I've seen from a president in some time.
Since the Moon program's completion the United States has enjoyed immeasurable benefit from NASA's role as the leader in technological development and advancement.
A role that in the last 10 years has increasingly been threatened by the rising prominence of other nations space technology and their intense efforts to develop it beyond our own established capabilities.
In one of the only actions I've ever been able to accept without qualm from the previous administration, George Bush planted the seeds that could have given NASA the direction and incentive it needed to achieve even higher levels of technological achievement with his return to the moon directive.
With Obama's decision to cut Orion, and instead supply meager funding for what amounts to a holding pattern of status quo at NASA, our nations role as the leader in space technology, and indeed all technological development is in crisis.
In what appears a clear case of hypocrisy, Obama said in his State of the Union address when speaking about clean energy that if the United States is to compete on the national stage it must embrace new technology and be determined to be the leader in that technology.
While I do not disagree with this position and find it very intelligent and insightful I do find it hypocritical that he is selling the idea that our country must lead in development of critical technology, while killing one of the most critical areas of technological development this nation has.
Compounding this hypocritical appearance is the fact that NASA is a critical part of the Florida economy, and with the discontinuation of the Shuttle fleet will have no other option than the excising of a major portion of it's workforce.
Florida is experiencing one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, and it was not a week ago that president Obama appeared here in support of the high speed rail funding he promotes as a way to create jobs.
Forgetting that we do not even possess the technology to create a high speed rail without foreign assistance, this program is not going to be a permanent source for a significant number of jobs.
Not only will cutting Orion almost guarantee the loss of our technological superiority but there is no question whatsoever that it will kill jobs here in Florida.
Not only in Florida, but in other states that rely on the space program for valuable contracts.
NASA is an integral and irreplaceable part of our nation's ability to lead the world in technological development.
Obama's decision to cut funding for Orion amounts to nothing less than loss of that ability and a certainty that other nations will inevitably fill that position.
That alone is reason enough for his administration to rethink this part of his economic policy.
President Obama has said he is all about looking forward, but in this case I have to be honest and say that not only is he not looking forward, but ensuring that we will fall behind.
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