No denying it; this is totally awesome. Barack Obama answers the questions put together by the BlogHer community.
On my short list, he talks about birth control, education, and the banking industry. Check it out:
Well, I wasn't going to vote for Barack Obama anyway, because I'm voting for Hillary Clinton, but this news that his education plan pulls billions of dollars away from our space program is going to leave me in a lurch if he becomes the democratic presidential candidate.
The shift from exploration to education came last week when Obama talked up his $18 billion education plan during a New Hampshire campaign swing. Actually, the reference to NASA comes at the end of a 15-page document laying out the details behind the plan (PDF file):
"The early education plan will be paid for by delaying the NASA Constellation Program for five years..."
The Constellation Program is NASA's $104 billion effort to send astronauts back to the moon in the 2018-2020 time frame, as an initial step toward wider space exploration and settlement. Although the policy paper doesn't lay out the figures, our own First Read political blog said Obama would keep Constellation on a $500 million-per-year maintenance diet during the five-year delay - with the implication that the timeline would be shifted to 2023-2025 for the first 21st-century moon landing.
The first years of an Obama administration would be particularly critical for NASA, because that's the time frame during which the shuttle fleet is due to retire. The schedule already calls for the space agency to hitch rides into orbit on other people's spaceships for up to four years, and if Obama follows through that gap could go for years longer - even assuming that Constellation goes into hurry-up mode if and when the budgetary spigots are opened wider.
USA Today quoted the Illinois senator as defending his plan to put NASA's vision on hold: "We're not going to have the engineers and the scientists to continue space exploration if we don't have kids who are able to read, write and compute," he said.
Um, we need to space program so that kids are working towards something, something to dream about and be inspired by. Not to mention that it's important to me because, yeah, I think we're not alone, and I want to get out there. And yeah, I think space is our future. And yeah, I really, really, really think we need to be a leader in space with other countries to ensure a positive future for our citizens as our world changes.
I think it's cutting off your arm to spite your face to fund education by cutting our space program.
Horrid, horrid plan, and I pray it doesn't ever happen.
I remember a time of caring about politics. It was 1992, and I was a 21-year-old college junior at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla.
When George W. Bush won his first election, I began to turn away. During his first years in office, I didn't hear or see him at all, because I simply couldn't bare it, my dislike for him was so strong. After 9-11, I turned off news and politics completely. Jeb Bush becoming governor of Florida made me almost glad I was leaving, running west to California.
I turned away just when I should have been paying attention.
I remember sitting in my living room when a press conference with George W. Bush came on. It was right when he was beginning to be questioned about the lack of WMDs, and about attacking Saddam instead of Bin Laden. I left it on and sat down and listened. It was the first time I'd heard the voice of George W. Bush since he took office.
By then, I had taken to reading the New York Times, so I wasn't completely living under a rock. Still, it has felt like a journey back. I find myself thinking about what's finally woken me up, and here it is:
I've definitely been feeling like this is all too soon, but the race has started, and BlogHers Act started up, and I guess I feel like the damn election is here already whether I like it or not. I suspect the early start to the race has more to do with the disaster of George W. Bush and his administration than anything else. We need to look towards the end of his presidency to have hope.
I'm sure I will be writing more about my support for Hillary Clinton for president in the months ahead. The more specific whys. For now, for this post, the topic is my increasing turn back towards caring and hoping.
In June, I became a Democrat.
This week, I made my first campaign contribution ever.
And I signed up over at www.hillaryclinton.com. Like, I gave them all my contact info. To a political campaign.
I don't know where this will lead. I'm not sure if I'm ready, or how involved I want to get.
But I do know that I care, whether I want to or not. And I can't deny how very, very much it all matters.
I care a lot, and I'm scared that I will get involved and let myself care and then the Republicans will somehow win again. I'm smart enough to know that the only way to stop that from happening is to shake off my fear, channel that outspoken 21-year-old who cheered when Bill Clinton won and who didn't know a post 9-11 America, and get involved. I think I'm ready to get involved and see if I can make a difference.
I don't know how far my involvement will go, but I have taken some small steps in.
Because when I think about Hillary Clinton becoming president, I feel more hope and more excitement than I have felt in years. When I think about Hillary Clinton becoming president, I start to believe there is hope after all these years of darkness.
Check out this Salon column by Rebecca Traister entitled, "Hillary is us." It's a good place to start.
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