Breaking news – NASA has been re-focused and re-purposed. As reported by FoxNews.com; “NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his ‘foremost’ mission as the head of America’s space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.
Wait, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? According to their own website, NASA is the agency that deals with space travel, not coddling people around the world who may or may not have issues with America or are suffering from self-esteem problems. NASA’s own webpage currently states: “NASA’s mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.” I see nothing in that statement about soothing or improving relations with the Muslim world.
Let us look at the specific comments by Charles Bolden (made on Al Jazeera’s English website) and what he claims are the three vital tasks that have been given to him by President Obama. (The entire clip is 21:54, but the shocking statement is in the first two minutes.)
Obama’s charges for Charles Bolden:
“Re-inspire children to get involved with science and math.” (Great idea – we need more kids studying math and science and fewer hoping to be reality TV stars.)
“Expand our international relationships.” (My guess is that this will become a share the cost thing – space travel can be more affordable when we “carpool” with other countries.)
“Third and FOREMOST, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contributions to science, math and engineering.” This is where I execute the perfect Danny Thomas spit-take and start twitching. Does anyone realize how utterly condescending this philosophy is? The Byzantine culture (Persians and Arabs of the 10th, 11th, 12th centuries etc.) produced incredible scholars, engineers, architects, poets and mathematical geniuses. Remember that we abandoned the very cumbersome Roman numerals in favor of the much more facile Arabic numbering system. Only a man completely ignorant of history–such as Obama–would assume the Muslims are not proud as hell of their scientific, mathematical and engineering feats. This is beyond insulting. Has Obama ever been to the Alhambra fortress in Granada, one of the most beautiful architectural wonders of the world, still awe-inspiring? This is what inspired the great M.C. Escher to draw his complex geometrical trompe d’oeils. This misguided slap in the face to Muslims everywhere is typical Alinksyite ignorance and shows a mind-numbing unawareness of other cultures.)
Does this mean that Charles Bolden will be working alongside Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? I wonder if Secretary Clinton will let us know how the alleged, new “Muslim Orbital Outreach” will be interwoven with the earth-bound activities of State.
As we all know, the State Department has a very important job to do. Just read their mission statement: “Advance freedom for the benefit of the American people and the international community by helping to build and sustain a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world composed of well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty, and act responsibly within the international system.”
I read that mission statement a few times and still cannot find any mention of NASA as a vital component to carrying out the President’s foreign policies. A quick scan of the State Department organizational chart also fails to connect NASA to State.
Great managers are those who have found a way to maximize the potential of every employee. That theory usually means focusing your people on the work at hand, staying in your specific field and completing the task assigned to you. I would love for the NASA Administrator to explain how engaging “Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contributions to science, math and engineering” has anything to do with pioneering “the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.”
Charles Bolden is a man with over three decades of service to our country. His military career is filled with enough highlights for ten men, and yes, he was an astronaut as well. I wonder what other astronauts and career employees of the Space Agency must be thinking about this directive from the President?
Can you imagine the reaction from the country if JFK had stated “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth” and then added “just as soon as we get the Muslim countries feeling better about their contributions to the world.” ??? (Or “as soon as we get the Russians to feel better about their contributions to the world.”)
If we truly want the Muslim people to “feel good about their historic contributions to science, math and engineering”, we don’t need to divert an entire agency from its mission. Oh no, we can do this faster and much easier by simply opening a Facebook page called “I HEART MUSLIMS HISTORIC CONTRIBUTIONS” and ask all of our friends to click on the “LIKE” button.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.