Category Archives: Political Commentary

Political Commentary, Space, Space and Campaign 2008

Whither VSE And ESAS?

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Or should it be “wither VSE and ESAS”?

My analysis on what the presidential election could mean for NASA’s current plans for human spaceflight, over at Popular Mechanics.

Bottom line: don’t expect “steady as you go…”

[Update late evening]

Mark Whittington has his usual (i.e., idiotic) response:

The problem here is that without a lot of those billions being spent not only on technology development, but operational experience, it will be a long time before private business gets us to the Moon, if at all. And we they do get there, they may have to have visas signed by the Chinese who will have beaten everyone there.

Yes, [rolling eyes] having to have visas signed by the Chinese to land on the moon should be our biggest concern. Not the fact that NASA has chosen an architecture that is fundamentally incapable of establishing a fully-fledged lunar presence and is unlikely to survive politically (and ignoring the fact that the Chinese are on a track to get a human on the moon sometime in the next century, at their current rate…).

Political Commentary

Identity Politics

Stanley Kurtz says that it has driven the Democrat primary to an unprecedented degree. I agree that neither Obama or Hillary! would be front runners were he not black, and she not a woman. Of course, in her case, even being a woman wasn’t enough. She had to be a woman who married, and stuck by (including violating most of the premises of feminism) Bill Clinton.

Political Commentary

A Stalking Horse For McCain?

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Rich Lowry wonders:

She’s preparing the demographic ground for McCain, by getting white working-class Democrats used to (if you will) not voting for Obama. And she’s softening Obama up for McCain, prodding at and exposing her fellow Democrats’ weaknesses.

The following is predicated on the assumptions (for which I think that there’s a ton of evidence) that: a) Hillary! is all about power for Hillary! and b) the fortunes of the Democrat Party come a distant second to that.

If Obama wins the election, even if his presidency is disastrous, it makes it very tough for her to run again in four years. Ted Kennedy tried it against Jimmy Carter, and it badly damaged the party in the 1980 election. And Hillary has nowhere near the reserve of goodwill among party regulars that Ted Kennedy does, so if she is perceived to be damaging the prospects for a reelection of a Democrat, it could be the end for her.

But when Obama loses (and particularly if he loses McGovern style, which is not at all unlikely), she’ll be able to say “I told you so,” and she’ll be positioned for another run at the nomination in 2012 (she’ll only be sixty four).

Thus, based on the above logic, Hillary!’s preferences are, in this order: a) to win the nomination, b) for McCain to win the election and c) for Obama to win the election.

So what she has to do (on the assumption that Obama is going to be the nominee) is to help McCain win without it being obvious that she’s doing so. Fortunately for her, the same things that she has to do to continue to fight for the nomination, all the way to the convention, are the things that will continue to strengthen McCain, and weaken Obama in the general. So she can maintain plausible deniability. And after the convention, most of the damage will have been done, so she can go through the motions of supporting Obama.

And if by some miracle, the stalking horse learns to sing, and she gets the nomination? Like what happens if she loses Super Tuesday, she’ll worry about that when it happens.

Political Commentary

Waffling

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Obama brings a whole new meaning to the term:

Democratic White House contender Barack Obama could not hide his irritation Monday when asked by a reporter what he thought about former president Jimmy Carter’s meeting with Hamas last week.

“Why can’t I just eat my waffle?” the Illinois senator said as he ate breakfast in Scranton, Pennsylvania, according to MSNBC television pictures.

Pressed again for an answer, he replied: “Just let me eat my waffle.”

Hey, nobody held a gun and made you run for president, Barack. At least, as far as I know…

I hope that Jimmy Carter has as prominent a box at the convention as he did in 2004. And he invites Michael Moore again.

Political Commentary

Slim Field

Lileks:

You know, it may be hard to find a candidate who doesn’t belong to a church whose leader delivers eyebrow-singing speeches on the evils of America and also built a house Jim Bakker would approve, and it may be hard to find a candidate who doesn’t move with ease in the same social circles as some people who bombed the Pentagon, but it can’t be that hard to find one who doesn’t do both.

Apparently, if you’re a Democrat, it is.