Irony In Obama's State of the Union

"America does big things", said Obama, as NASA announces that the facilities that once launched Americans to the moon are available for lease.

I'm dumbfounded how Obama can fail to see the irony in repeatedly calling our present situation "our generation's Sputnik moment" as he simultaneously dismantles the manned space program which Sputnik inspired.

Obama's State of the Union long on US greatness, short on austerity - CSMonitor.com: "“This is our generation’s Sputnik moment,” Obama said, referring to the Soviet satellite launch in 1957 that both scared and inspired Americans.

“Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven’t seen since the height of the space race,” the president continued. “And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal. We’ll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology, an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people.”"

Obama's goals of increasing the proportion of young people interested in math and science, are indeed the very same goals the nation set after Sputnik. President Kennedy's response was Apollo, and it inspired a generation of scientists and engineers while spurring technological advancements that created entirely new industries and helped drive our economy for decades.

Obama's plan to borrow or print money for increased biomedical, IT and clean energy research spending is no Apollo.

This is what real leadership looked like: