Friday, Jan. 16, 2004 | 5:24 a.m.
Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.
WEEKEND EDITION
January 17 - 18, 2004
"YOU'RE GOING to the moon, Alice."
With that said, the incomparable Jackie Gleason would slam his fist into his hand and point heavenward, leaving the rest of television land howling with laughter at his humor based on the obvious impossibility of the task at hand.
Not long afterward a brilliant and dynamic leader named John F. Kennedy, caught red-handed like the rest of the United States in our space program lethargy by a Communist Soviet Union that had just hurled its first man in space, promised a bewildered America that before the decade was out, this country would land a man on the moon. We had only seven years to accomplish what only fiction writers had been able to do thus far.
Six years later, Neil Armstrong took one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind as this great country rose to the challenge of a martyred president and did what very few people thought possible in a time frame no one thought achievable. It was a bold vision by a brilliant leader who put our country's science, creativity, imagination and money where our collective mouth was. We landed a man on the moon.
That was 35 years ago.
This past week in a similar bold stroke, President George W. Bush painted a picture of his vision for manned space travel. It wasn't to compete with a Cold War rival for space supremacy and the military and commercial spoils that went with it because that war is over. It couldn't have been to challenge a fledgling space agency to get its house in order and point us starward with a stopover on the moon -- like that which existed in 1963 -- because NASA has a big and mostly orderly house and missions aplenty. And it couldn't have been a call by President Bush to a country shocked by an enemy and in desperate need of a goal much bigger and bolder than any other, because nothing has shocked us since 9-11 and the only space those guys knew about was the space in the caves in which they lived.
If I were a cynic, I would say that the president shared his vision of space exploration with us because he needed to give us something to think about well into the future so that we would stop focusing on the problems of today -- of education, of the economy and of the needs of an aging America -- and start thinking about a tomorrow that our grandchildren will know. But I am not the cynic I am sometimes accused of being and that means I choose to believe that our president really thinks his idea is a good one.
Bully for him. As an advocate for space exploration, even when we can't afford it, I think President Bush was right to share his vision about where he thinks this country can go in the world of outer space. That doesn't mean I necessarily agree with the particulars of his plan -- such as they are -- just the size of his thinking.
I think this country needs big thinkers. But we also need big doers and that's where I believe President Bush has failed on this vision thing.
His plan to send men to Mars, via a decadeslong stopover on the Moon, is bold and visionary. But his commitment to fund such a huge undertaking, and the timetable he has set forth to accomplish such a goal, is lacking. It lacks sincerity, it lacks judgment and it lacks the kind of leadership that characterized President Kennedy's challenge to the Red Menace.
I did not know JFK but I know a lot about him and frankly, President Bush, you are no President Kennedy.
In 1963 the leader of the Free World -- at a time when there was an un-Free World ready to take us to the brink of nuclear war on a moment's notice -- not only painted us a picture of his challenge to the scientists and the determination of the American people, but he also put his credibility on the line when he urged Congress to find the billions of dollars necessary to accomplish his goal. At the time of his challenge he didn't know he had only a few months to live. But he put his presidency on the line by asking the American taxpayers to up the financial ante enough to pay for his dream. The people responded and, even though he did not live to see it, America's success gained it a superiority in space that was never again challenged.
Today we are challenged with a trillion-dollar undertaking that starts with only a billion-dollar commitment. Today we are challenged to put a man on Mars, not in seven years, but what could be 20, 30 or even 40 years. It is a worthwhile goal to be sure, but it is an unworthy commitment to a time frame that spans not only a presidency but at least a generation.
If we are to go to Mars, and I say we go, let's do it now. Let's find the hundreds of billions it will take to pay for the science necessary and commit it in an all-out effort to lead this planet in outer space exploration. The American people need a bold vision and they will be willing to follow it if they are convinced their leaders are steadfast and true to their own vision.
But throwing one billion dollars at a trillion dollar problem and stretching out such a worthy goal over decades and decades seems hardly the kind of boldness that has defined the leaders of this country who have taken us to ever-greater heights when history has given us the opportunity.
There are many people who think space exploration is folly at a time when we can barely feed, shelter and clothe our own people, not to mention the rest of the people on this planet. And they have a good point. But there are many Americans who, likewise, question the need to spend hundreds of billions on defense. And, while they, too, may have a good point, we spend the money because most people understand the dangerous world in which we live. The difference between the two spending priorities is leadership.
So if space is to be explored and if President Bush wants to boldly go where no country has gone before, I think he needs to change his tune. He needs to stop thinking about the way this thing plays in the political world and start thinking about how this will get accomplished in the real one. That means he needs to ask Congress to find, not the billion dollars, but the tens of billions needed to get this program moving. That means he has to get out on the stump and convince Americans that space exploration, just like defense spending and Social Security, is a priority this country must pursue. And that means he has to quit promising the moon and delivering next to nothing and start making good on the potential of the greatest country on Earth.
We have, as a nation, followed this president where no president has gone before -- a pre-emptive war -- and did so willingly. There is no good reason to believe that the American people won't also follow him toward a peaceful exploration of our galaxy.
All he needs to do is have the faith in us to ask, and to do so in a way that we will believe that he, too, believes in his vision.
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