AS THEY SAY, YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  Paul Mirengoff, at Power Line,  has discovered an appalling interview given to, natch, Al Jazeera, by Obama's hand-picked head of NASA.  Apparently, Houston, there's a problem, and it's the president. 

Charles Bolden, head of NASA, tells Al Jazeera that the "foremost" task President Obama has given him is "to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering." Thus, NASA's primary mission is no longer to enhance American science and engineering or to explore space, but to boost the self-esteem of "predominantly Muslim nations."

Exploring space didn't even make the top three things Obama wants Bolden to accomplish. The other two are "re-inspire children to want to get into science and math" and "expand our international relationships,"

This is more evidence, if any were needed, of Obama's lack of interest in American achievement or, indeed, American greatness. He seems to believe we've achieved enough (or perhaps too much) and that the trick now is to make nations that have achieved little for centuries feel like we couldn't have done it without them (in the video, Bolden goes on to talk about how much NASA owes the Russians and the Japanese).

COMMENT:  Well, add to our list of negatives about this president is that he has no sense of imagination or adventure.  In his leftist, quasi-intellectual world, the excitement of discovery has no place.  It's so middle class, so American.

What is so disgraceful here is Obama's, and his crowd's, refusal to recognize that America is indeed a nation of many nations.  And so people of a number of backgrounds have contributed to our space program.  We don't have to farm out the compliments overseas. 

Some have smugly, and happily, declared Obama to be the first "post-American" president.  In some ways, I think they're right.  And that's one of the major reasons why this man must be sent packing in 2012.

July 5, 2010