You Don't Mess with the Obama

Last month, I read with interest this piece in the Orlando Sentinel, detailing how the then-current head of NASA basically told Obama's people to shut the fuck up, telling the head of the transition team she was "not qualified" to speak of what NASA was doing. One of the administration's priorities is to cut NASA funding, including some of Griffin's pet projects, including a return to the moon.

Wise, wise strategy.

I don't think ideology should be a bigger consideration than competency in government service. I haven't really read anything that calls his competency in running NASA into doubt, but he gone.

Another comment Griffin made on NPR back in 2007 got him into some hot water as well. In an interview with Steve Inskeep he said,

I have no doubt that global -- that a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of earth's climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn't change.

First of all, I don't think it's within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown, and second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings - where and when - are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take."

I don't find this comment horribly offensive. He gets the basic facts right, and comes to a different, yet still reasonable, conclusion than most.

I think we've all been in situations where you chafe from having to explain your position to a person who is completely unqualified to accurately judge its merits. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for a rocket scientist. That's why there should be a buffer of bullshit artists between the accountants and the engineers. This was his job, and he failed to provide a compelling reason for continuing some of NASAs projects because he felt it was beneath him to do so. So in that sense, he wasn't competent. Anybody who has headed a project can tell you he failed miserably. I feel for the guy, I really do, but you can't successfully run an agency like NASA like the political climate is still what it was in 1957.

Calling the person holding your checkbook an idiot is not a good way to win the argument. It's one of those unfortunate facts of life that all the things so obvious to you are not self-evident to everyone else. Gotta learn to deal with that.

He's a brilliant mind, so I hope he lands somewhere where he can do the most good.