This week, I witnessed the dumbest political move I have seen the Bush White House make. They have made an unspeakably large number of policy mistakes, but for sheer political stupidity, their "shoot-for-the-moon" quest for a vision thing tops everything. The ways that Bush's space policy will bite them over the next year are numerous.
The biggest problem is that the jokes and oppo one-liners practically write themselves ("he opens firehouses in Baghdad, hell, he even wants to open firehouses on the moon, while closing them in New York." "The President has his eyes on the moon, but if he'd look down at Planet Earth, he'd notice that 3 million jobs were lost." "Why does Bush want to invade Mars? There aren't any weapons of mass destruction there either.""Will the Martians get health care coverage?") It's a perfect way for his opponents to make serious attacks while sounding fun, which is the sweet spot of politics. Everyone loves a clever joke, reporters most of all. And, an incumbent loses when he looks clueless. This is a perfect way of making him look clueless.
Plus, if they are really intending this to be the grand unification theory, they (meaning the White House and its media supplicants and pundits) are going to have to keep talking about it. And, really, could there be anything more out of touch than spending a lot of time talking about settlements on the moon when we have homeless in Cleveland? Mideast peace depends on resolving settlement issues on the West Bank, not the dark side of the moon (damn, see, I can't stop with the one-liners, feel free to join it . . . ). Pretty soon, no one can touch this issue without looking stupid, but if I'm GOP, I'm worried the message discipline is so strong, they'll all keep doing it anyway.
And, on top of it all, it's really dumb policy. I mean, I guess people maybe (MAYBE) will forgive a deficit in a "time of war" (bullshit, of course, but it has at least a chance of working), but I have a real hard time seeing how tax cuts for the rich, a massive deficit, and a trip to Mars fit into a compelling political narrative. And slashing research on global warming to send someone to live on the moon might play well with the wacko base and the corporate contractors, but it's extraordinarily stupid policy and politics.
Now, if the Democratic Party can just stop eating itself, we'd be in good shape . . .