As we approach the ignominious end to Obama's presidency...

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not ready for prime time jack arse

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I think you just coined his epitaph.

I saw today we lost some new space craft worth over 500 million in a crash. The first thing I though was "oh no, some assholes are going to want to cut NASA or money spent on space". NASA is moving away from space travel and is now in the Global Warming business? Government wants it privatized it seems and I can understand some of the rationale. Still, I cringe at what NASA has become because it use to be one of Crown Jewels that everyone saluted under the governments watch.

You can't get more bipartisan than NASA. Now, it's working on global warming wtf?

One thing I expected was a Federal Government that was competent under Obama. Boy, I have ate my hat for 6 years watching this country lose what remaining trust it had in its government. It's actually scary to watch the corruption and the bureaucracy kill any hope or signs of the ability to adapt.

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while bridges wait longingly

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have you driven on interstates lately? Every minor bridge seems to be getting work.

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the federal gov't defintely would've been run very competently and professionlly under a Mitt

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You know it's entirely possible to be corrupt and competent at the same time right? That's exactly what Mitt Romney would've been as President.

Obama has been corrupt and incompetent.

It's funny that you mention Section 8 because I have seen first hand how it has blown up under this president.

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NASA needs to be a priority.

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Virtually the entire information revolution was based on the groundwork laid by NASA in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo program - advancing, particularly computer, technology by leaps and bounds.

...but it got expensive. This is truly one of those rare issues where consensus ought to be easy. Ike (R) jumpstarted our space race (and despite his credentials as one of the U.S. greatest generals - Top 5 on most lists, made it distinctly civilian in nature), because he understood the stakes. JFK (D) made a national commitment to Nasa's moon program - LBJ (D), for all his flaws, followed through on Kennedy's promise, despite his diffuse focus on civil rights, Vietnam, domestic response to hippies, War on Poverty(tm), etc. Nixon (R), again, flawed though he was, made sure we got to the moon a number of times - every manned moon landing occurred during Nixon's first term.

But, budget hawks on the right and liberals decrying the "wasted" resources expended (versus social spending) combined to kill the program - almost at its peak.

The shuttle was a terrible solution to the wrong problem. We knew how to put people and satellites in space - and keep them there for a while. All the shuttle strove to do was keep costs down, which it did poorly. And people died, ultimately, due to this drive to keep costs down.

All that Apollo brainpower and infrastructure should have been leveraged into a Mars mission and beyond. Who knows what energy, material and computer breakthroughs we might have gotten out of it?

Here's his epitaph:

POS COMMIE FROM KENYA WINS NOBEL FOR BREATHING.

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have you driven on interstates lately? Every minor bridge seems to be getting work.

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Not only that but every intersection that is being rebuilt with three to four times the amount of material necessary for efficient travel. I suppose they are trying to prove that government spending can spark the economy. When all the intersections and bridges are completed, what then?
Don't believe me, check out I 81, Exit 8. There is a new, almost half mile loop to enter or exit.
Exit 12, they dug out hunks of concrete, two ft. thick, twelve ft wide, and twenty ft long. They replaced it and the road is now rougher than when they started.