OUR CURIOSITY – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  The lander named Curiosity has landed safely on Mars.  And yes, I did stay up to watch, violating the principle of adequate sleep for a clear mind.   

I can't wait for President Obama to take credit for this accomplishment, as he slashes the NASA budget to the bone, and outsources our manned trips to the International Space Station to the Russians, his close personal friends.  Indeed, one of the most poignant moments in last night's Fox coverage of the landing came when a former astronaut appealed to the viewing audience to write their Congress members, asking that NASA's budget be restored.

Great nations have great dreams, and then they follow them.  Nations without dreams fade away.  We had great dreams once.  President Kennedy's vow to put a man on the moon in the decade of the 60s inspired Americans, and how wonderful we felt that July day in 1969 when the dream was realized.  I recall putting my newborn daughter, in her little baby seat, in front of the TV so she could always say she saw it happen.

We don't seem to have great dreams today.  We have a president who ridicules American exceptionalism and an educational establishment that tears down, rather than builds up.  We can restore our dreams, but only if we restore American leadership, and start pushing back against media chic and educational monstrosity.

We should today recall Dwight D. Eisenhower, under whose leadership NASA was founded.  Eisenhower was much maligned by the trendies for his poor speaking style (although he wrote beautifully), and because he was, as they liked to put it, "an Army man."  He'd spent a few years as president of Columbia University, where his reputation is, even today, regularly savaged and laughed at.  And yet, Eisenhower's stature has grown through the years.  He was actually a very thoughtful and reasoned leader, a serious student of history, and a man who'd made history and made it well.  His career provides a cautionary note who those who enjoy judging the intelligence of others by the way they speak. 

We congratulate NASA and hope that it will be restored to its proper place in American life.  A young generation waits to be inspired.

August 6, 2012