Phil Plait has a righteous takedown of a recent editorial by Amitai Etzioni in the Huffington Post. Etzioni argues that Obama needs to knock NASA down a peg or two because…um…well….because he thinks oceans are more interesting than planets, and because NASA’s publicity machine runs towards hyperbole. More or less.
Take it away Phil:
Dude. Seriously? The question of whether we are alone in the Universe, and even if there are other planets capable of sustaining life, is certainly deeply ingrained in our minds. This is one of the biggest remaining unanswered philosophical questions in science! For Etzioni to poopoo it is not only insulting, but so egregiously wrong-headed that it boggles my own mind.
A second bright spot (beyond watching Phil vivisect one of “the top 100 American intellectuals“) is the comment thread, which is much more sensible and well-reasoned than the original article.
Oh dear. The word from the Orlando Sentinel is that Mike Griffin is being, shall we say, less than cooperative with the Obama transition team.
NASA administrator Mike Griffin is not cooperating with President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, is obstructing its efforts to get information and has told its leader that she is “not qualified” to judge his rocket program, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.
In a heated 40-minute conversation last week with Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator who heads the space transition team, a red-faced Griffin demanded to speak directly to Obama, according to witnesses.
I can only hope that this is not true, but I suspect that it is, given that the Floridian reporters have their ears very much to the ground on space policy issues.
I can understand not enjoying the process of outsiders coming into an organization you’re devoted to, and scrutinizing all the details of your work. However, as the parent of a particularly feisty four-year old, I find myself wanting to calmly tell Griffin in my best infinitely-patient-mom-voice to “make good choices”. NASA, like the country, needs the grown-ups to be in charge right now.
