Save NASA!

Last night in his State of the Union Address, President Obama did a fine job of highlighting some of the things America will need to do to maintain it's position as the world's greatest country as we move forward in the new millennium.

Mr. Obama's proposals, especially at the beginning of his speech, calling for investments in education and clean energy were especially encouraging. And the president, while not being specific enough about cutting the deficit in the future, understands that America's long term economic prospects rest on our ability to grow the economy today.

However, the part of the president's speech that most captivated me came at the end. After all the talk about the economy, about the deficit, about Iraq and Afghanistan, and even after well-deserved shout outs to both Joe Biden and (yes, I said it) John Boehner, the president had this to say about America, "we do big things."

It was a simple phrase that is just a repackaged version of American exceptionalism, but it was delivered poignantly. "We do big things." This is America; we do big things. In laying out his vision for America's future (a vision that only one party seems to have, the other has a vision of America's past), the president touched on some of those big things: high speed internet; high speed trains; cleaner and greener energy, but it's something that he barely mentioned at all last night that has inspired me to write today.

Save NASA! We've heard a lot lately about America's new "Sputnik moment." In fact I've used the term myself. In the 1960s it was NASA doing big things, responding to the Soviet's challenge by putting a man on the moon and capturing the attention and will of a nation, spurring us to be the best.

It is a sad thing to see that NASA today is more of an afterthought than a part of America's vision for the 21st century. The nation of big things, the nation that put a man on the moon is neglecting the biggest thing. As the president mentioned last night, the space race unleashed a wave of innovation and technology that spurred economic growth for decades. If we want to keep doing big things in America, we can't neglect looking outward towards the unknown. Like many government agencies, NASA needs to become more efficient. Reallocating funds to cut the deficit means NASA shares the burden. But it would be a true national tragedy for America to forget it's past endeavors into space and neglect looking to the stars in the future.

We do big things. Don't forget it, and don't forget NASA.