Dorothy Rabinowitz, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, has proclaimed the proposition that Barry is an alien in the White House. She says
"Those qualities to be expected in a president were never about rhetoric; Mr. Obama had proved himself a dab hand at that on the campaign trail. They were a matter of identification with the nation and to all that binds its people together in pride and allegiance."…"He is hard put to sound convincingly like the leader of the nation, because he is, at heart and by instinct, the voice mainly of his ideological class. He is the alien in the White House."
Ms Rabinowitz goes on to powerfully remind us how difficult it is for the Barry's people to say jihadist or terrorist and that the White House is no longer the cornerstone and keystone of the world's freedoms and leadership but
"It is a White House that has focused consistently on the sensitivities of the world community—as it is euphemistically known—a body of which the president of the United States frequently appears to view himself as a representative at large..."The beliefs and attitudes that this president has internalized are to be found everywhere—in the salons of the left the world over—and, above all, in the academic establishment, stuffed with tenured radicals and their political progeny. The places where it is held as revealed truth that the United States is now, and has been throughout its history, the chief engine of injustice and oppression in the world."
Sharky&Sharky wish to turn from these profound expressions of policy and politics of Ms Rabinowitz to the more technical world of space a program which now he modifies to embrace the sensitivities of the world and assuredly arrests US hegemony in this technical arena.
First
Video of Mr Obama's speech at the Kennedy Space Center, the text of
the text of the Speech.
The warriors embroiled in the speech are the forces for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) activities and the forces for going on to Mars directly. (The speech is 30 minutes) In this speech Barry basically aligns with the LEO advocates desiring to rely on Russia's International Space Station and commercial development staging steps to get to Mars against the Advocates for Mars Direct who do not want the Constellation cancelled as this is a big direct step to getting to Mars. Now not even Sharky&Sharky can say what is the right choice so let us turn to some experts.
Dr. Buzz Aldrin is a big advocate for LEO direction he asserts that the President's plan gets us to Mars:
"Mars is the long-range objective for our space program. Just as deep sea exploration began with practice in our littoral waters, a successful Mars mission begins with near-Earth orbit testing. To get to the final stage, we must perfect all that we'll need for the journey. The president' budget and step-by-step approach helps do that, minimizing the risks and costs as we go."
The President's plan comes from a study that determined that the Constellation plan was flawed and the direction should be changed. This study was headed up by Norm Augustine former CEO of Lockheed. The LEO plan calls for considerable commercial development.
Mr. Augustine presentation to Congress his plan indicates that(1) Current program is not sustainable (say Constellation) (2) The US needs to encourage the development of dependencies on the commercial environment (3) We will get us to Mars in stages. Unsaid by both the President, Augustine and Aldrin is that the US will be dependent on Russia's International Space Station and commercially built spaceships to launch the US astronauts. Sort of like taking a ferry across the Potomac to get to Air Force 1.
Well, what is the opposing view from Armstrong, Lovell, and Cernan. Cernan wishes that the Congress will veto the President's LEO direction in that (1) After three more shuttle trips to the ISS the US will no longer be going anywhere (2) The Moon will not be used as a stepping stone to Mars. Lovell asserts that the plan "gives NASA nothing to strive for". Along with Armstrong, the boys got a little testy in a
signed open letter.
"For The United States, the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second or even third rate stature." (Remember the great Portuguese explorers: Prince Henry the Navigator, Vasco DeGama, Ferdinand Magellan; their people can no longer travel due to their debt). ...
Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space.
How does third rate work for you?
Now let us reflect on Ms Rabinowitz concern that Barry is an alien. Sharky&Sharky are sort of smart but we are not smarter than Armstrong, Aldrin et al. Moon first; Mars first; Sharky&Sharky do not know. Sharky&Sharky do not know why the heck Mar's is the target. But we know leadership; we know hegemony; we know mediocrity. We know that if you are sitting at the international poker table focused on world sensitivities you will either be shot or you will lose. This is not the time to become Portuguese. Barry's plan as stated takes away US control of its space fate; it makes us weak and dependent on the most corrupt country on earth, Russia. But this is the type of plan the Alien comes up with; a plan that blunts the US leadership and creates dependencies, comparable to the ideological class that he knows well as a neighborhood organizer.
©Sharky&Sharky