With just under two weeks before the president’s big space conference at the Kennedy Space Center, people are still wondering about the details of the event, including just who will get to participate. Of course, when many people ask who will get to go, they’re really asking, “Will I be able to attend?” Congressman Bill Posey (R-FL) is just a little more direct than those folks. In a letter to President Obama earlier this week, released by his office yesterday, he was clear in his request, in the letter’s first paragraph: “I write to inform you that I would very much appreciate the opportunity to participate in the event with you.”
The rest of the letter was devoted to his argument to extend the space shuttle in order to prevent job losses on the Space Coast and maintain US leadership in human spaceflight. If the administration continues current plans to retire the shuttle without an identified successor vehicle, Posey argues, “we will fall permanently behind competing nations, such as China and Russia, which will press forward with manned missions to the moon and eventually to Mars. Such a scenario is not in our nation’s security and economic interest.”
Incidentally, Obama’s visit to Florida on the 15th won’t be exclusively for the KSC space conference. He will also attend a Democratic National Committee fundraiser hosted by singer Gloria Estefan and her husband, Emilio, in Miami, the Miami Herald reports. Getting into that event appears, for now, to be a little more straightforward than attending the KSC event: just $30,400 a couple will get you into the Estefans’ home and presumably some face time with the president. Or, you can spend $250 to $1,250 to attend a separate fundraiser in Miami with the president, also on the 15th, although presumably in a less intimate setting. Those additional events suggest the president at least won’t be spending the full day at KSC on the 15th.
Just Obama and the secret service, oh and the press, I guess, if we must.
The “meeting” is almost secondary. Support is firming up in the Congress for Obama’s plans, there is no coherent opposition and Obama’s support among the Dem Congress/Senators has never been firmer.
There will be almost no changes to Obama’s plans. He won on health care and is stabilizing his numbers.
The battle here is between those who see some value in past efforts badly executed for nebulous reasons and those who want a dynamic future.
BTW sorry for the absence. My wife was delivered of our daughter. LJ Oler was born March 29,2010 at 1241 Houston time. 9.6 Lbs 21 inches long red hair. A little “point”…the legend starts early. Our daughter had self tied a four hitch with “midas” weave Gordian Knot in her umbilical cord. Thanks to everyone who called and emailed. They were appreciated.
Robert G. Oler
Congrats to you Robert and your wife. Glad to hear that little LJ is doing well.
Try to hold back on the indoctrination till the girl turns 1.
No really, I’m very happy for you and your wife.
Wow, Posey really has some nerve. First he claims Obama wasn’t even born in this country, then he begs Obama to give him free publicity time at Obama’s town hall.
Meanwhile, Posey has done nothing to diversify the local economy in Brevard County so it’s not beholden to government contractors as the sole primary job source.
Kosmas, the local Democratic congresswoman, is just as bad, pandering to the locals instead of working to diversify the local economy.
Both of them should be forced to stand outside the permiter with the Tea Partiers and union bosses, since that’s all they’re interested in.
By the way, for those who don’t know, the boundary between their two congressional districts runs right between KSC and CCAFS. Kosmas has KSC, Posey has CCAFS.
Congrats to you Robert on the new addition, and happy birth day to LJ.
Someone should ask Posey if he asked about the President’s birth certificate in his letter asking to be invited.
First he claims Obama wasn’t even born in this country
Can you provide a citation for this? I’m not aware that he’s ever made such a claim.
@ Robert G. Oler wrote @ April 2nd, 2010 at 8:35 am:
Best to you and your family!
@ Rand Simberg wrote @ April 2nd, 2010 at 1:22 pm
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2009/03/americans-only.html
“Posey wouldn’t say if he thinks Obama is a citizen, but his spokesman told Politico:” I think he’s willing to take the president’s word for it. If the president wanted to put an end to the whole thing he could order Hawaii to release the authentic birth certificate. That’s up to him.”
Oh well…
@ Rand Simberg wrote @ April 2nd, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Enough?
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/07/28/birther_enablers
” Posey has said that he can’t “swear on a stack of Bibles” that Obama is a citizen. “
Congrats Robert!
†Posey has said that he can’t “swear on a stack of Bibles†that Obama is a citizen. “
In neither of those citations does Posey claim that the president is not a citizen.
@Rand Simberg wrote @ April 2nd, 2010 at 2:46 pm:
“In neither of those citations does Posey claim that the president is not a citizen.”
I know but the innuendo is obvious. If not to you it is obvious to me and to a lot of other people who see this as another despicable attitude from the current crop of the Republican party.
Innuendo is not a claim. The claim was made that he claimed that the president is not a citizen. That claim has not been substantiated.
Why do you think that (like his transcripts), the president has expended so much in legal resources to prevent us from seeing his original birth certificate? One does not have to believe that he wasn’t born here to wonder what it is that he doesn’t want us to see.
Posey’s situation demonstrates the utter farce and waste of time the Obama Space Summit is likely to be,
@ Rand Simberg wrote @ April 2nd, 2010 at 3:05 pm:
“Why do you think that (like his transcripts), the president has expended so much in legal resources to prevent us from seeing his original birth certificate? One does not have to believe that he wasn’t born here to wonder what it is that he doesn’t want us to see.”
Ah come on! This is borderline worth of the conspiracy theory crowd. If the AF is hiding Area 51 it is because there are alien spaceship there! Or they would not! Not that much!
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jun/27/obamas-birth-certificate-part-ii/
Ah come on! This is borderline worth of the conspiracy theory crowd.
That link sheds no light on my question. I was simply correcting the record, and pointing out what is, to me, curious behavior. I’m not sure why you don’t find it curious.
@ Rand Simberg wrote @ April 2nd, 2010 at 3:15 pm:
No I don’t find it curious and if as explained the birth certificate in Hawaii are NOT public record then be it. Or are you saying there is no mechanism by which the Federal government can check the President’s eligibility such as its birth certificate? Are you saying that no one, not a single person in any of the intelligence services that run background checks on any one with a clearance found out about the birth certificate? Are you saying that all of the services cleared some one to be the next President (then) who has something to hide? I am sure you went through a background check did you not? Are you saying that for the President is so much easier?
Or are you saying there is no mechanism by which the Federal government can check the President’s eligibility such as its birth certificate?
No, I’m saying that the process may have stopped at the point at which the released copy was found, and that no one attempted to (and perhaps didn’t even have the legal authority to) look at the original. And from the standpoint of determining eligibility to be president, that’s fine. The question remains, is there something on the original that the president doesn’t want us to see, perhaps because it’s in some way politically embarrassing (e.g., the father is actually someone other than Barack Obama Sr.)?
I continue to wonder.
And along the lines of getting a clearance, it happens automatically when one becomes president. That doesn’t mean that said person could pass a background check. For instance, Bill Clinton would never have been able to get a clearance with his background, had he not been president.
@Rand Simberg wrote @ April 2nd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
“The question remains, is there something on the original that the president doesn’t want us to see, perhaps because it’s in some way politically embarrassing (e.g., the father is actually someone other than Barack Obama Sr.)?”
Let’s assume there is a shadow however tenuous this might be. Why do you care who his father really is? Why in the world would it be any of your, our business?
“For instance, Bill Clinton would never have been able to get a clearance with his background, had he not been president.”
There are people whom you’d think could not get a clearance that still get one. And the reason is that clearances are given on a case by case basis. Sure there are guidelines and “rules” but in the end it still is on a case by case basis. So I don’t think that Bill Clinton would not have gotten a clearance. What in his background makes you think he could not get one?
Let’s assume there is a shadow however tenuous this might be. Why do you care who his father really is? Why in the world would it be any of your, our business?
Whether I personally care, or should care, isn’t relevant. The fact is that many might care, even if you don’t think they should, and it could affect his electoral prospects, so it’s something that he’d like to keep under wraps. Part of the mythology of Obama was the “dreams of his father,” and if it turned out that someone else (e.g., his mentor, communist Frank Marshall Davis), it would show that the campaign image was a lie. I don’t know what that certificate would show, but doesn’t seem unreasonable to me to wonder what is on it that he has taken such great effort to prevent us from seeing. It also reduces my trust in him, particularly when he campaigned on the issue of “transparency.”
So I don’t think that Bill Clinton would not have gotten a clearance. What in his background makes you think he could not get one?
Now we’re getting way OT, but one of the things that investigators do when running a background check is to see if a person is blackmailable. That is, does he have secrets that he’d be willing to go to great lengths (including providing classified information) to keep secret. Someone with a history of philandering would be very problematic, particularly since, as we saw, he was willing to lie under oath, and intimidate and bribe witnesses, to keep his affairs from becoming known. Given his willingness to commit federal felonies like that, what else might he have been willing to do? For reasons of national security, if you’re the most powerful man in the world, you have an obligation to your office not to engage in activities that you wouldn’t want to read about on the front page of the Washington Post. No, if he weren’t president, it would be very unlikely that he could get a clearance. Clearances have certainly been pulled for far less.
Anyway, we’ve drifted far afield. I was simply pointing out that the claim that Bill Posey claimed that Barack Obama wasn’t a citizen wasn’t true. Or at least hasn’t been proven to be true. I can’t, of course, prove a negative. It’s possible that he’s made such a claim, but I’m aware of no evidence of it, which is why I asked for a citation to that effect. I’m still waiting for one.
@Rand Simberg wrote @ April 2nd, 2010 at 4:14 pm:
“Now we’re getting way OT, but one of the things that investigators do when running a background check is to see if a person is blackmailable. ”
I am perfectly aware of that. But you haven’t provided any proof that he was blackmail-able.
“Someone with a history of philandering would be very problematic,”
This is YOUR opinion. Recovered(ing) alcoholic and/or drug addict can possibly get a clearance. But how would you rate their abilities according to your criterion above?
I am perfectly aware of that. But you haven’t provided any proof that he was blackmail-able.
Of course I did. I’m sorry you didn’t follow the logic. Someone who will go to great lengths to keep a secret from becoming public is blackmailable by definition (e.g., the David Letterman blackmail case). Perjury and multiple counts of obstruction of justice by suborning perjury through intimidation and bribery are pretty great lengths.
This is YOUR opinion.
It is the opinion of any competent background investigator.
Recovered(ing) alcoholic and/or drug addict can possibly get a clearance. But how would you rate their abilities according to your criterion above?
If they’re truly recovered, and willing to allow their past to be public, there’s no problem. Or at least, they wouldn’t be automatically precluded.
For the record, FactCheck.org has seen, examined and verified Obama’s original birth certificate:
http://factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html
Of course, the people who would distract you from the real causes of the problems facing this country — starting with eight years of mismanagement by the Bush Administration — will say or do anything.
Just as they’ve been trying to claim that all the decisions made by the Bush Administration to cancel Shuttle and fly astronauts on Soyuz were actually made by Obama.
This is a space policy blog. Please keep the discussions on topic. Thank you for your cooperation.
Sorry, Jeff. As you probably know from Usenet, drift happens. I was just trying to correct the record.
Sad. the fact that the bulk of this postings’ comment consist of arguing the toss about Posey & Obama, etc and little if anything, on the possible implications of this upcoming speech.
Whilst I’m not unaware of the classic party political wrangling, as a Florida Rep. the future of the space program, whether in terms of pork or employment, naturally concern Posey – if only for his political future! We know all about town hall politics – but why exclude the local politicians: who supposedly represent the people: who after all, will be conspicuous by their absence? Don’t forget, the moon speech was totally public AND fully media covered. This “meeting” on the other hand…
Kris Ringwood wrote:
“Whilst I’m not unaware of the classic party political wrangling, as a Florida Rep. the future of the space program, whether in terms of pork or employment, naturally concern Posey – if only for his political future! We know all about town hall politics – but why exclude the local politicians: who supposedly represent the people: who after all, will be conspicuous by their absence? Don’t forget, the moon speech was totally public AND fully media covered.”
Well, let’s get a few facts straight.
Technically speaking, KSC and the Shuttle program are not in Posey’s district. Go to his site at:
http://posey.house.gov/District/
You can zoom in on the map and see where the border is. His district ends at the access road to the Shuttle pads. But the pads, the VAB, and pretty much everything else Shuttle-related lies in Kosmas’ district.
Don’t blame Kosmas, it was drawn that way a decade ago, but the reality is that Posey’s district doesn’t include KSC. It does include CCAFS, where Kosmas is excluded.
Practically speaking, both have residents and contractors with a financial stake in whatever the future of the government-financed space program happens to be.
As for “the Moon speech,” presumably you mean JFK’s speech in 1961. That was to Congress. Obama is not addressing Congress.
Furthermore, if you actually read the so-called “Moon speech” very little of it had to do with the U.S. space program. It was mainly about the economic recession of the time and various jobs programs Kennedy was proposing to address it. He also talked about confronting Soviet expansionism. The Moon program was a very small part of that speech, near the end.
You can read about it, and access the speech’s text, at:
http://spaceksc.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-frontier-and-final-frontier.html
My main gripe is how many local politicians in Brevard County, Kosmas and Posey, have totally failed to do anything about the Shuttle demise until now. Bush cancelled Shuttle in January 2004, so they’ve had more than six years to address it. They did nothing. Now that it’s a few months away, all of a sudden they’re crying about it — and blaming Obama, who had nothing to do with it. These people need to take responsibility for the consequences of their own actions, or lack thereof.
One of these days, I’m going to the Cocoa library and look up the microfilms of the January 2004 paper to see just how much whining actually happened when Bush cancelled Shuttle, or in April 2007 when the Bush administration signed the contract with the Russians to put U.S. astronauts on Soyuz craft once Shuttle ended. I suspect there was very little said in this overwhelmingly Republican district.
[…] pm. While it was clear for some time that he wouldn’t be spending the full day there (since he’s also attending fundraisers in Miami that day) many were clearly disappointed that he would not stay longer. Left unanswered, though, is the […]