This is going way off my normal topic territory so I’ll keep it brief but the comments on the blogosphere have piqued my interest in Congressional calculations and what it could mean for Obama’s alleged attempts to can the Constellation programme
I guess it is pretty clear that the only members of Congress with a very strong interest in NASA’s budget and Constellation in particular are those with districts that have voters employed by the space agency and its contractors
Considering how NASA repeatedly fails to get any significant Congressional support for its programmes – president George W. Bush’s failure to get the budget increases he wanted when his party controlled Congress being a big example – it is this blogger’s guess that the recent statements from politicians opposing the Obama spaceflight vision will see no follow through and no successful challenge
Clark Lindsey made a good point about “small government” (my words not Clark’s) Republicans paradoxically voting in favour of a multi-billion dollar government programme and against something you would imagine they would support – privatisation of low Earth orbit access. So what would make Republicans do that?
Why would the Republican party decide to fight the Obama administration on the NASA battelfield when they can continue focusing on healthcare? It is a question I leave to the US bloggers out there who will be able to make the Congressional calculation better than this subject of a former colonial power
But if the Ares rockets are to be saved by Congress then I would imagine the Republican party leadership will have to decide to collaborate with their objective Democratic allies on the spaceflight issue and Fox news will be at the tip of the spear for that fight
