Category Archives: Political Commentary

Political Commentary

Why I Read Lileks Daily

For gems like this:

It is interesting that the movie [Transformers] made 403492 grillion dollars, whereas the Cruise / Redford / Streep oration about War Being Bad averaged thirty-seven cents per theater. As many have noted elsewhere at great length, anti-war movies are unpopular. The theories vary: the public is tired of the war, the movies are lousy, the public doesn

Political Commentary

Advice for Giuliani on Space Policy and Politics

My father the presidential election historian thinks that 9/11 is your best head-to-head issue against Clinton. Play this up. In general, hit the main themes of your campaign. View space policy as a highly scrutinized metaphor for the other 99% of your domestic and international policies. Here are some 9/11 talking points.

  • Focus on space for visual and signals intelligence to prevent the next 9/11
  • GPS as a force multiplier
  • Condemn Chinese use of anti-satellite weaponry by China
  • Note that the Taiwan straits and the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea are quiet now, but it’s possible they will flare up in the next 8 years so we need to build on our military space strengths
  • Resurrect Reagan’s flair for demonizing the Russians as part of your space platform. As Machiavelli says, “[A freed animal that was] brought up in prison and servitude … becomes prey to the first one who seeks to enchain it again.”
  • Advocate awareness about a space 9/11 (don’t speak purple prose here–your security firm can brief you) and the ability to cope and quickly recover from such a crisis

Frontier spirit is a traditional Republican (and Democratic) value; sticking to science, technology, the environment and international cooperation when talking about space is a mistake

  • Note that space is the new frontier and its inevitable (far) future for expanding the sphere of freedom
  • Visit Williamsburg and talk about how Jamestown was settled and how the frontier spirit is alive and well in America and how 400 years from now the Moon and Mars will be settled

Fiscal conservatism is a winning electoral issue (despite it being very bad public policy)

  • Endorse some of the Aldridge Commission recommendations, but disclaim those that will implicitly hurt jobs in the states you are intending to win
  • Tell NASA that you want them to undertake hard problems (quote Kennedy’s Rice speech) and trust the private sector to deliver cargo and people to Earth orbit; note that sometimes the Russians have good ideas we should copy like harnessing capitalism for orbital spaceflight; perhaps do this standing next to Elon Musk and Gov. Arnold on a fund raising trip to LA after you’ve captured the primaries, but before the general gets into full swing. Musk’s factory is next to LAX. Don’t put on bunny shoes.
  • Talk about working smarter and shrinking NASA through attrition–don’t create enemies by firing people

New space gets tons of media coverage and is a feel-good entrepreneurism story

  • Make fun of the new race for the next humans to set foot on the Moon and suggest that you’d like to see Google offer a prize to the winner of that race, too (on top of their rover prize). Hinting at privatizing their private billion dollar NASA airstrip and campus boondoggle is unwise. The campaign website might become harder to find on a Google search. Compromise by meeting them in a swing state.
  • Praise Bob Bigelow and express interest in the next US space station being leased. Arrange to shake hands with him in Nevada. Don’t put on booties.
  • Before the general election arrange to shake hands with Burt Rutan in New Mexico
  • Envision a time when the President will make 45-minute flights to Tokyo in a later-generation suborbital spacecraft that is as safe as Marine One, the first presidential helicopter in 1957 perhaps with Rutan
  • Arrange to shake hands with Peter Diamandis of ZEROG and Space Adventures in Florida at the Cape–don’t put on a bunny suit or fly in ZERO G; hard to get only good photos
  • Visit Air Force Space Command
  • Visit Space Explorers headquarters in Wisconsin, shake hands with George French and talk about the importance of space to motivate kids to learn about science, technology, engineering and math

But don’t overdo it.

  • Don’t spend more than 1-3% of your words or appearances on space issues
Political Commentary

Those Who Know Him Best

Fred Thompson mops up the floor with Hillary (and other Dems) in Tennessee. Giuliani and Romney don’t fare so well (and I suspect that this will be true in the south in general).

This seems like an interesting harbinger to me. Does it mean that as the rest of the country gets to know him as well as Volunteers do, that his polls will improve similarly?

[Update a few minutes later]

In further Thompson news, here are some reported excerpts from a speech on the war that he just gave at The Citadel.

Political Commentary

Reframing CO2 Reduction

There’s no way countries that are growing their economies the most will agree to stringent caps on carbon dioxide emissions based on historical levels. This historical-cap framework rewards the countries that have shrinking populations and manufacturing. Instead Canada (as also noted in today’s WSJ) and others are focusing on CO2 intensity. E.g., how much CO2 is produced per kwh of electricity generated or per barrel of oil pumped? These are measures that don’t hurt production and labor mobility. Some say they don’t have bite. But if a CO2 reduction policy bites too much (pun intended)–especially in a way that caps economic growth–then the growing polluting countries will ignore it.