UDPATE: Obama DID NOT "Charge" Bolden To Do Muslim Country Outreach

I'd like to point out The Daily Show's take on it. Its the first part of this clip: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-july-7-2010/wish-you-weren-t-here

Lately they seem to have made a game of finding a corresponding Reagan clip to everything Obama does. Its hilarious.

Is this a possible clue, this old below article, on how some in the administration may have dreamed all this up?

How Rocket Scientists got into the hearts-and-minds game 4/17/05
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050425/25roots.b1.htm

Most notably missing from Obama's three directives to the general was to ensure America remained the leader in space technology and exploration.

Apparently, the President feels that NASA should be part of the State Department with a dotted line to the Department of Education.

At least we now know "the mission." Fortunately, new boosters and other new hardware are not necessary to fulfill this brave new role for NASA.

Question: do those who think Obama and Bolden's direction for NASA is OK have a problem with all this?

If Bolden and Obama had chosen to continue Constellation - under funded as before perhaps - would these people now be objecting to Obama using NASA's good offices for diplomatic benefit?

Whether NASA should be used in this way is a perfectly legitimate political question to raise, but what is going on here seems to be an argument by proxy - any stick to beat Bolden and Obama's plans with.

IMO it's high time the antis actually read NASAs published plans and project P.O.D.s with an open mind and stopped wasting their fury on these straw men.

What Bolden was doing falls under the category of "public diplomacy," taking the message to the people directly-so they see Americans in a different light than what they usually get through the news.

CIA people and military planners know all about it. I doubt that documents that discuss this in detail would be made public.

Public diplomacy is just talk. Nothing else.

I'm not sure if the discussion was directed as such given 1,2,3

Bolden is still a MARINE, such as it is, he is doing a wonderful Job as leader IMHO.

This is not new news. See Orlando Sentinel article 2/19. Even specified Indonesia.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2010/02/nasa-plans-more-outreach-to-muslim-countries.html/comment-page-1#comments

Keith, I'm thinking that Obama has been learning from Tony Blair and has been issuing his subordinates orders in informal, non-minuted meetings held without any witnesses from outside the inner circle. That way, if anything ever blows up in his face, he can claim with a straight face that there is no documentary proof that he instructed anyone to do anything.

Here's another link for you, Eric Berger is soliciting comments on Bolden's performance to date, try to keep the partisanship out of it guys...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/7100424.html

bkbirge, LeBron chose Miami over NASA ):

Here's the link to Eric Berger's blog post: http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2010/07/lets_talk_about_nasa_bolden_muslims_and_human_spac.html

NASA has reached out to the Muslim world, via a video linkup between high school students in the U.S., members of NASA-sponsored F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Teams, and high school students in Jakarta, Indonesia, who have built robots.
Here is the press release about the event in April 2010.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/education/hands_across_the_seas.html

You can decry the use of the space program as a political tool - but you're, oh, about 53 years too late. Sputnik? Space Race? Does that ring a bell?

CharlesBoyer - give it a break, do you really think that's the sum total of Bolden's directives? This is just quoting partial information out of context to make it look threatening...

I assure you that Bolden's foremost goal is to get the space program out of the CxP cesspool and into the fast lane, and he's been doing a good job at that, in spite of continuing obstructionism by the people who pretend to care so much about HSF.

@inko.m3, lol thanks for providing the right link!

Jon Stewart neglects to mention that the Soviet Union had a roughly equal space program to the United states each with slightly different specialties that could complement each other.

Now if Reagan had directed NASA to try to make the Soviets feel good about their historic contributions to space it would be a better analogy. Granted it's still funny.

When one of the Arab Emirates gets that space tourism starbase open it will all seem less ridiculous. Maybe they can buy NASA with the oil money they get too.

Here is the best and most pertinent comment of all from a long-time worker in the U.S. human space flight program:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/7101715.html

"I was appalled to hear that the president directed the head of our governmental space agency to "reach out to the Muslim world." Separation of religion from governmental interference or preference is a fundamental characteristic of our democracy.

The president overstepped his authority and revealed his misguided agenda".

Obama and his army of "yes men/women" will never allow our country to be daring space explorers beyond low earth orbit; not until the world is one big happy global space family. I can just see it, any major USA space exploration mission will need to have the input of every wanna be space power. How pathetic.

White House denies NASA remark on Muslim outreach

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100712/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_nasa_muslims_1

General Bolden.....
That pattern across your chest are the tire marks left when the White House ran over you with the bus.

General Bolden must clarify publically this miscommunication. Either he misremembered something that he thought the President told him, or the WH did. Either case it now goes to the heart of his credibility. There's no shame in admitting an error. But by ignoring the issue brings questions about his reliability, given what appears to be a WH smackdown of the NASA chief. This is not the time for this, as NASA fights for its life on the Hill. Bolden must clear the air once and for all given this latest development. If the WH is correct, then he stated something to Al Jazzera that simply wasn't true, although he may have believed it to be true. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this. Otherwise a political appointee so undercut by the WH would under normal circumstances be forced to step down. I hope that this can be avoided.

Wow, so did he really do this on his own (makes him look really bad now), or did the White House throw him under the bus like the Tony Blair way BenSpaceBrit mentioned (shame on Obama) ? I could see the latter happening in a sort of informal conversation between Bolden and Obama, maybe Obama going a little out of his area of expertise, then Bolden held onto it. Maybe they had coordination with the State Dept. but nobody raised any stop signs. I kind of doubt he did it on his own. Still wonder what really happened.

This administration is a joke.

This still leaves a few questions:

1. Did Bolden not understand what he was charged to do?

2. Did he understand, but now the White House is going to leave him to hold the bag?

3. Will Bolden admit publicly that he was wrong?

4. If Bolden still feels that he had been charged by the White House to engage in Muslin outreach, will he:

A. Challenge this assertion by the White House?

B. Be the good general and admit that he was wrong, even though he feels he's right?

First, let me disclose that I am not unbiased. I have far more faith in a career Jarhead than in a career politician.

I think (and no Keith, I have no proof other than my rather substantial gut feeling) that Charlie is being hung out to dry here. The tone of the Obama Administration has been to reach out to Muslim and other third world countries - and not just with NASA.

I think what you are seeing is the Whitehouse reaction to the public outcry. Nothing more.

The sad parts are:

a) I think Charlie is a good enough Marine to take the fall if he has to.

b) The "on again - off again" approach to having NASA be a part of Obama's outreach plan is counter-productive. In the eyes of the Muslim world retracting the perceived outreach is worse than having never been offered it at all.

Just my thoughts.

Semper Fi Charlie

Here is the Briefing
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/id/227883

The question starts at 18:52
The question about what Bolden stated is blanked out.

You can hear Mr Gibbs for yourself
This is not what was stated:
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that such activities are not among Bolden's assigned tasks. He said administration officials have spoken with NASA about the matter.

The CxP huggers keep hugging each other.

In the absence of transformational leadership we get this mess. No effective leadership from the WH, no effective leadership from the Congress, and no effective leadership from Gen. Bolden.

Ugh.

Bolden needs to make a statement that he mis-remembered or he has to resign.

Geez, never have I seen NASA in such a mess.

also of interest
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/04/president-s-cairo-initiative-celebrates-a-year-progress
President’s “Cairo Initiative” Celebrates a Year of Progress

Posted by Erin Szulman on June 04, 2010 at 12:20 PM EDT
On Tuesday, June 8, OSTP Director John Holdren will provide keynote remarks at an event commemorating President Obama’s June 4, 2009, speech at Cairo University, which called for deepening relations between the West and Muslim communities around the world. In that speech, President Obama described how America’s strength in science and technology could be enlisted to forge partnerships with Muslim communities and help solve many of our shared challenges. He spoke of appointing a team of “science envoys” to collaborate on programs to develop new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitize records, purify water, and grow new crops. And he spoke of launching a new fund to support technological development in Muslim communities and help transfer ideas to the marketplace to create more jobs.

Tuesday’s event, at the National Academies’ Keck Center in Washington, DC, will celebrate the one-year anniversary of that “Cairo Initiative.” It will recognize the substantial progress that has been made to date, including the creation of new exchange programs and the deployment of America’s first three science envoys, who have in recent months traveled to more than 10 nations, including Egypt, Algeria, and Indonesia and will recount their experiences at the event. It will also highlight new commitments for further engagement and provide an opportunity for the diplomatic, science and technology, and non-governmental organization communities to comment and ask questions about the path ahead.

Among the many notable achievements to date:

An Entrepreneurship Summit led to the creation of support networks encompassing business and social entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, development bankers, and other business experts to promote development in a number of countries.
NASA teamed up with USAID to develop “SERVIR Africa,” a program that monitors and forecasts ecological change and allows participating nations to respond to regional natural disasters. NASA now has 39 agreements with 30 Muslim-majority nations.
USAID awarded six new Middle East Regional Cooperation projects to fund applied research and science and technology cooperation between Israel and Jordan, West Bank/Gaza, and Tunisia, regarding agriculture, global and regional health, and environmental protection.
EPA partnered with the City of Jakarta, Indonesia, to create an air quality management program to develop and apply science-based urban air pollution control strategies, programs, and tools, with the goal of improving air quality and human health.
Among the activities planned for the near future:

The U.S. Department of the Interior will work with the Government of Morocco to promote better management and protection of endangered species by creating a Red List of nationally endangered species. Both agencies will also cooperate to strengthen the implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to promote sustainable tourism development.
Three new science envoys will be named by the State Department with missions in Central Asia, East and West Africa, and Southeast Asia.
The National Science Foundation will promote exchange visits by students to conduct research and take courses in areas such as materials science, biology, chemistry, and energy in Muslim communities. This will also allow greater linkage between NSF-funded science/engineering centers and equivalent facilities in Muslim communities.
Clearly much has been accomplished, and more is poised for fruition in the year ahead. A draft agenda for the meeting can be found here. For those who cannot attend, a live audio-cast will be available at www.whitehouse.gov/ostp.

Erin Szulman is a student volunteer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Hang around a while. I have a sick feeling it'll get worse a long time before it gets better.

fascinating.

It is fairly easy to show that outreach to Muslim countries was official White House (=Obama) policy. The White House may be changing policy but they have not yet had time to run a coverup.

Quoting from the State Department's website.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/06/142807.htm
Title ="
Cairo Anniversary Event: Celebrating New Science Partnerships with the Muslim World

Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
June 7, 2010"

{snip}
"
A year ago, President Obama made his historic call in Cairo for sustained partnership with Muslim communities around the world, including a focus on science and technology collaboration. Since then, the White House has led a “whole of government” approach to realizing the President’s vision to foster meaningful collaboration as a way to meet shared challenges in health, energy, the environment, and other areas. This event will highlight accomplishments to date, describe new commitments, and provide an opportunity for diplomatic, science & technology, and non-governmental organizations to comment and ask questions about the path ahead.

{snip}
"
(My emphasis)

Normally I would say the inmates are running the asylum, but it appears that they have broken free and are now running the country.

The latest remarks from the Whitehouse seem to indicate they are throwing General Bolden under the bus, most likely due to the negative press.

Of course, if they never said that about "outreach" - or intended for that to be the case - then the question should be asked and answered by the Whitehouse as to why the administrator of NASA was sent to the Middle East in the first place at whatever cost to the taxpayer.

"Erin Szulman is a student volunteer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy"

Not_confused.. are you Erin Szulman?

That would explain a lot.

So why didn't the White House deny this last February when Bolden initially made reach out remarks? The denial comes only now when it has become clear it has been a massive PR disaster.

And as others have said, if he was not charged with this, why was he there at all?

It brings a tear, a career run over by a community organizer.

Well ... the White House is either lying (or "mistaken", if you prefer), or they're correct. Either way, they seem to be hanging Bolden out to dry.

If Bolden came up with the "outreach" business on his own, and scheduled the trip on his own to pass this along to al Jazeera, then he deserves to be fired weeks ago.

Regardless, IMO, he has not been an effective and strong Administrator anyway. We could do a lot better and it's not Lori Garver.

Let me get this straight. We have a decorated general, running a premier agency that is under fire with it's prime program being dismantled and it's critical staff about to be cast to the winds. The general, on his own initiative, decides it is time to leave NASA HQs for multiple trips to the mideast to raise awareness of muslim contributions to science and engineering... all while his Rome burns to the ground.

Yep, makes sense to me. The perfect perspective of a good Marine.

Semper Fi Charlie, Semper Fi! You deserved better.

Okay, I went to the website and listened to the Q&A.

The spokesman did not say that the President never mentioned Muslim-majority national outreach. He said the President didn't tell him that this was NASA's mission, because it's NOT NASA's mission.

The President may have said this was an important agenda for the whole government to work on (as the Cairo anniversary websites indicate), and clearly NASA -- as an agency that does incredibly well at international partnerships -- has been successful. It might even be one of the most important strategic outreach initiatives for the whole government.

That doesn't mean the President told Charlie it should be NASA's #1 outreach initiative, let alone its #1 space initiative.

Charlie, who is not a politician, could simply have carried this to what he thought was a logical conclusion, and of course stated it not very diplomatically.

LOL CessnaDriver

No I'm not;
http://www.america.gov/st/scitech-english/2010/February/20100216152157kcsniggih0.849209.html

Topics: Opportunity, Science & Technology, Middle East and North Africa
Keywords: NASA, Grove of Hope, Lunar Science, Saudi Arabia
17 February 2010

NASA Enhances Space Expertise Through Middle East Alliances
Cooperation builds capacity for research, education

By Carrie Loewenthal Massey
Special Correspondent

Washington — In addition to sending spacecraft into orbit and testing weather patterns on the moon, the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) forges international partnerships that provide for research advancement and educational exchange.

Several collaborations pair NASA with scientists, researchers, universities, and schools in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

SAUDI ARABIA PARTNERSHIP TO ADVANCE LUNAR SCIENCE

NASA and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) will conduct lunar and asteroid research. The partnership, announced December 15, 2009, allows for the Saudi Lunar and Near-Earth Object Science Center to contribute to the NASA Lunar Science Institute its expertise in radar and infrared imaging, laser ranging and imaging, topographical studies, as well as near-Earth object science. Near-Earth objects are comets and asteroids that have entered Earth’s neighborhood as a result of the gravitational pull from other planets.

Hows the CxP steroid supply coming along?

http://www.america.gov/st/space-english/2008/July/20080817205410SrenoD0.4798548.html

Topics: Opportunity, Science & Technology
Keywords: science, international cooperation, Libya, solar eclipse, NASA
01 October 2006

Total Eclipse Cooperation

Joseph Davila
Joseph Davila, PhD, is an astrophysicist in the Heliophysics Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. His research interests include wave/particle interactions on the sun, the three-dimensional structure of the sun’s corona, and the sun’s magnetic field.

In March 2006, during a rare four-minute total solar eclipse, astrophysicists from NASA and scientists from research institutions in Libya collaborated for the first time in this North African country on joint scientific activities. Traveling to Libya’s ancient southern desert in search of the best eclipse visibility, the scientists studied the sun’s corona and helped broadcast the event to people around the world.

Total solar eclipses happen about once a year, on average, somewhere on Earth. On March 29, the four-minute, six-second total solar eclipse occurred when, from Earth’s perspective, the moon passed in front of the sun and seemed to be about the same size as the sun. Over the past 50 years, scientists have learned a lot about the sun’s corona—where its energy comes from and how it attaches to the rest of the interplanetary medium—but many details are still mysterious.

What many people don’t realize is that the sun doesn’t end at the yellow ball. The atmosphere of the sun extends all the way through the solar system. Earth travels through the sun’s atmosphere, which ends at a region called the heliopause boundary—the outer limits of the sun’s magnetic field and outward flow of the solar wind—between 18 billion and 22 billion kilometers from the sun.

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2006_Television_Wan_Namus.html
"Eclipse-City — Waw an Namus 2006"
RAI Educazione Explora coverage by Paola Catapano in Libya

So what was the question asked of Mr Gibbs? today??? It appears a SOLAR FLARE happened during the briefing.

I agree that there really needs to be some clarification on this soon.
If it remains the way it is with the official line of miscommunication
or the widely suspected line of Gen. Bolden being "thrown under
a bus", then this whole incident will just fester - and the timing couldn't
be worse as many have noted.

From reading the transcript excerpt above from Press Secretary Gibbs,
it seems that he was unprepared for the question or at least acted
that way. This has been gaining traction in the media for nearly
two weeks now. Mr. Gibbs should have been very prepared to
take these questions. The posts here that show that just in early June OSTP was thumping its chest on the progress in Muslim outreach made in the last year seem to me to contradict Mr. Gibbs statement that this outreach
is not part of NASA's mission. Those posts imply that this is an important
outreach effort by the administration that spans all government. It also
seems to be contradictory to the WH initial statements of support for Mr. Bolden. IMO, either Mr. Gibbs performed very poorly in his job today or
this is some mad, misleading attempt to spin down the controversy
that is brewing.

Unfortunately unless more clarification is given soon, this thing is likely
to really catch fire. It is not as bad as when Nixon fired the AG but I can't
think of any other recent situation where, if the bus throwing scenario
is the case, a loyal administration member was been treated in such a
way merely for the WH's political benefit.

IMO, the media needs to ask the WH some questions:
1) Did the WH approve the trip a priori?
2) Did the WH approve of Gen. Bolden speaking to Al Jazeera
before hand?
3) Did the WH know what subjects were to be discussed in the interview
and did they approve beforehand?

If the answers to all the questions are no, then the next question is
why didn't they know? Are they misplacing reports from NASA on
what the a senior administration official is planning on foreign travel,
or is Mr. Bolden just a renegade Administrator doing as he pleases and
not informing his superiors?

Maybe Keith would care to comment on this last point. He
seems to have inside knowledge on who the renegades are and are not
inside NASA!

Forrest

Wow.
Occasionally I start thinking that things can't get much worse for our space program, and then yet another straw is tossed on the camel's back. After a year in power, the administration's space policy is a complete mess - and that is a kind assessment. A *very* kind assessment.
I see no way that the players in this current mess can be all telling the truth, so that means things are rotting at a deeper level than we see. Not that many didn't already suspect that, but seeing it so plainly is still distressing.

If Bolden was indeed "chosen" by Sen. Nelson, then the honorable Senator should advise his friend to step down while Bolden can still cling to some pieces of credibility. Hey, if Garver and Holgren can be show the door as well, then maybe we can start over and develop some goals and programs to actually go somewhere and do something?

Ok the transcript is now posted with the video on the whitehouse website

Spin city is appears. How can the Mr Gibbs answer a loaded question?

Here's that longer Bolden quote about Obama to Al Jazeera:

When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps 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 contribution to science ... and math and engineering.

Q I wanted to ask you, there are some comments that the NASA Administrator, Charles Bolden, made a couple weeks back that drew some interest, specifically from conservatives who are wondering why we he said that one of the charges that the President gave him when he got the job was that he had to focus on outreach to the Muslim world. Why is the NASA Administrator doing that?

MR. GIBBS: That's an excellent question, and I don't think -- that was not his task, and that's not the task of NASA.

Q So did he just misspeak?
MR. GIBBS: I think so.
Q Has the President spoken to him about that clear it up?
MR. GIBBS: No.
Q Anybody here at the White House?
MR. GIBBS: I’m sure people -- people at the White House here talk to NASA all the time.

Oh no, now the sky is falling!

Thanks for being a voice of reason in this (mostly) republican brouhaha.

So Obama leaves Charlie hanging in the wind? Seriously?

Nobody was a more fervent Obamamaniac in the election run up than I was. But his performance at NASA (among others) has been troubling–no, it's been awful, it is short sighted, he has failed to see what NASA is, was, and can be to this country.

And now what? He leaves the Big Dog wounded and fluttering in the breeze???

WTF?

And here's another shocking fact: maybe, just maybe, the Congress will do the right thing. Too early to get excited, and yes, it's out of self-interest, but who cares? NASA has always been about spreading the wealth. Fine. Maybe Congress will actually provide leadership.

Who knew?

All:

I just read the comments in response to the Washington Post
article cited above. I wanted to see what a more mainstream
(less space enthusiastic) slice of America had to say on this
issue.

It was pretty sad.

One post was just outright vulgar. Many of the posts seem
to come from extreme right. A few more were from the left
challenging the extreme right wing posters. Lots of anger, hatred,
and what we used to call flame wars. I know we get little flame
wars here at NW, but what I saw on the Post were much much
worse. Whether that is due to Keith's moderation or the difference
in audience, I don't know.

Also, very few seemed educated very well on the issue. A few did
but they were by far in the minority.

I really hope that these posts do not even come close
to representing a true slice of American opinion. If they
do then we have got a lot of work to do right here at home in terms
of developing positive and constructive attitudes via outreach
to the mainstream from the sciences and engineering specialties.

Hope we don't prioritize doing such work in the Muslim-majority nations
over doing it right here at home.

Forrest

Reason?

There is no reason whatsoever in this entire situation. Charlie Bolden should not even be in the middle east while the agency he is supposed to be managing is in such a mess with thousands of civil servants and contractors (what's left of them) having no direction.

He should be working on a compromise with Congress so that the agency can get moving again or working on how to best utilize the 100 million allocated to assist the workforce that is getting laid off because of the new budget proposal.

He is not doing his job and should be removed from his position. That is the bottom line in all this, IMO. And, I was a democrat!

unfortunately, CREDIBILITY from this administration has pretty much been completely shattered, and the sad part is those like Bolden who are trying to toe the line are having their credibility shattered as well...

Dear General Bolden,
Please meet your new boss, we call him 'bus'. You will be working under him.
Sincerely,

Dear General Bolden,
Please meet your new boss, we call him 'Bus'. You will be working under him.
Sincerely,
Mr. "Buck Doesn't Stop Here" Obama

To msadesign: "Who knew?"

I assume you meant "Who knew (as in who, even in their wildest dreams would have thought) that the Administration would do this to NASA (and other non-NASA things)?"

I suppose I did. I didn't KNOW, but I'm not surprised at anything this Administration might do ....

The WH has certainly put Bolden between a rock and a hard place, unless the Muslim outreach was his idea and his alone. I don't see how he can get out of the predicament.

I don't think Bolden just "made up" the whole "reach out to dominantly Muslim countries" idea himself. I don't think he misunderstood something the President told him about Muslim outreach.

I think the President did not realize that Bolden was going to go public with the President's plan to use NASA as a Muslim Outreach organization. Now that Bolden repeated Obama's instructions and let the "cat out of the bag" Bolden will be made to suffer some punishment - perhaps he'll even be fired.

What we actually know about Obama's plans are likely just the tip of the iceberg.

"Good morning Mr. Bolden. Please fly to the Middle East and perform international diplomacy with foreigners so their children stop setting roadside bombs in our oil rich areas. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, will put our country back on top. As always, should you or any of your entourage be exposed on worldwide media channels, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This text message will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Charlie."

What a hero!

Definition of "misspoke":

"Whoops, I guess I said something that revealed our true agenda at a time when revealing that agenda was politically inexpedient."

Meanwhile we are all supposed to believe that Bolden imagined that he heard Pres. Obama give him direction to reach out to the Muslim world. And that he went off on a trip to the Middle East and gave an interview to Al Jazeera without anyone in the WH having a clue what was going on.

I mean if Obama and Gibbs said that Bolden did not get this direction, then I guess that settles it. Bolden must be an idiot and Obama, as always, would never direct an appointee to do something that would be politically embarrassing if the public found out about it.

Charlie Bolden is NOT an idiot and deserves our respect and support, no matter what he thought he was told, what he said or didn't say. If everytime a public official misspeaks he or she is expected to resign half the government would be vacant.
Let's give the guy some slack.

Frank,

I will give the guy some slack... Charlie has always been a stellar leader with NASA and with the Marines. Their is a different dynamic at work here that has put a great leader in such a multi-dimensionally embarrassing debacle. The head of a federal agency goes on multiple trips abroad on official business, representing the President and NASA. Did not the State Department approve his travel and brief him in preparation for his mission??? He was doing his job as directed by his boss, and now the Administration has no knowledge of it?

I will give Charlie a lot of slack. He deserves it. He has taken WAY MORE BULLETS than he is obligated to for this mission. At some point, however, a soldier taking this much lead would have to consider whether or not a strategic retreat is in order.

This is sad...

Frank,

I certainly agree that Gen. Bolden deserves our respect and support.

I am not sure how your latest post syncs up though with your earlier
post where you stated that it is Mr. Bolden "who must clarify this
miscommunication". Shouldn't that burden fall on the WH? It seems
to me that the WH, starting with the press secretary, is the the chief
source of all this latest confusion. They, yesterday, have contradicted
most of their earlier media statements. Don't you agree?

I agree with davo that Mr. Bolden is taking a lot of bullets. What
do you think? It seems that many other NW posters are on the same train
of thought - which is IMO respectful and supportive of Gen. Bolden. Not
sure why you got up on the pulpit??

Forrest

This is embarassing for NASA and the United States.

Is Charlie going to call up Al Jazeera and correct his mis-statements and set the record straight? Is he going to say something? or just cower under a rock and hope it all magically blows over?

Is Charlie now preparing for another tap dancing show for when congress asks him pointed questions such as: Were you told to do this? Did Lori Garver suggest it? Did the White House? If you were told to stick your head in an oven would you do it? Do you believe what you said to Al Jazeera? Charlie is very bad at being evasive and a bad tap dancer. So when we watch the tap dancing show, albeit painful to watch, it is very telling.

So why doesn't General Bolden resign? Send a message to the WH that your name and integrity means something. Or stand up and say you, a Marine General, really did mis-understand and with genuine integrity, set the record straight - with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Being a prior Military Officer - I just can't imagine any general - especially a marine -putting up with being accused of mis-understanding orders, being thrown under the bus, making mis-statements, and made out to look like a loose cannon fool who doesn't understand the fundamental mission of the agency that he is supposed to lead.

To those who are seeking an explanation which sets both Bolden and Obama in the best possible light-- consider Jim Muncy's comments, and suppose that Obama spoke to Bolden about a national priority, avoiding rancor between the U.S. and Muslims. This business of making Muslims feel good about their technological contributions would represent something NASA could do which furthers this foremost national priority. From the time Obama thought about it to the time Bolden addressed Al-Jazeera, it must have gotten turned around.

It's my view that the longer this drags on the more it will serve to obsfucate the important issues facing NASA, such as the FY2011 budget. My earlier view was the simplist way to deal with this was a two sentence statement and then we all move on. But considering how much time has now passed, maybe the better approach would be to say nothing for the time being.
I've had the chance to think a bit and now see the merits of...silence.

Frank,

While you are silent, others are talking:

http://tinyurl.com/3y228xz

This just won't go away yet. I hope that it doesn't go away until all the "new plan" cheerleaders figure out that they are a bunch of rubes. This administration is rapidly selling out it's supporters and enablers.

I love the comments about NASAs lack of classified technology. With all the ITAR crap we have to put up with, this is just too much.

... Bolden was quite clear that there was specific direction from the President with regard to Muslim countries as one of the three things that President Obama charged him to do as NASA Administrator - with outreach to Muslim countries being "perhaps foremost" of the three.

So either Charlie or the White House is a liar.

Pick one.