sdelmonte | One More Moon/Mars Thought

So Dubya's made his speech. It was about what was predicted, with an emphasis on going back to the Moon and then onto Mars, slowly; and with a call to finsish our share of the Intl. Space Station, but then to retire the shuttles and disengage from the ISS program. Certainly not how I would go about things, though it's hard to argue that the shuttle program should be extended yet again.

But it's the response to this that I am here to comment about. The Democrats, it seems, have no enthusiasm for this, with a Clinton leftover named John Podesta deriding this be saying Dubya wants to focus on "a red planet 35 million miles away." So? Yes, we should have our priorities, but we should also have our dreams. Alas, I fear than no Democrat will offer ann alternative to Dubya's plans.

I hate this. I hate this because I want Dubya gone from the White House. But given the choice even between his half-baked, possibily soon to be forgotten, Moon/Mars plans and no such plans at all, I gotta go with Dubya. Yet again, I wonder if anyone running from my party has either a vision for the future or any clue as to how to show up Dubya.

In the meantime, I am willing to give Dubya a little credit for making it a little more respectable to dream big again. I doubt he truly shares such dreams, but the promise of a manned Mars landing is too powerful to ignore, despite the huge daunting reality.

And in the same meantime, Spirit is ready to rove. Can't wait for the pictures from that.