Romney's space plank per Bob Thompson former SPM

FLEXIBLE PATH
A  SOMEWHAT MISLEADING TERM SELECTED BY A COLLEGE PROFESSOR WHO DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO COMMUNICATE PROPERLY
THE TERM WAS CHOOSEN TO SCOPE ALL POSSIBLE OPTIONS FOR MAN’S EVOLUTION AS A SPACE FARING SPECIES
THEN THE PROFESSOR TELLS YOU THAT YOU SHOULD NOT SELECT AN OPTION (path) THAT YOU CAN NOT PAY FOR- GRAMMAR SCHOOL LEVEL ADVICE
THE PROFESSOR DOES NOT RECOMMEND A PATH - HE MEANS THAT ALL POSSIBLE PATHS ARE SCOPED WITHIN HIS BRILLIANT TERMINOLOGY
THE PROFFESSOR WILL APPEAR TO BE BRILLIANT TO EVERYONE WHO HAS AN OPINION ON A PATICULAR PATH THAT IS WITHIN SCOPE – THEREFORE THE PROFESSOR AGREES WITH HIM OR HER
POLITICIANS LIKE THE BRILLIANT PROFESSOR BECAUSE EACH CAN FIND HIS OR HER PORK IN THE BRILLIANT PROFESSORS WORK-  THINK SLS OR ORION OR ASTEROID OR MARS OR VOTES
MY VERSION OF FLEXIBLE PATH: NASA IS A SMALL BOY IN A CANDY STORE (FLEXIBLE PATH) WITH A NICKEL ( budget) IN HIS HAND SAYING “WHAT SHOULD I BUY”
IN THE YEARS SINCE 2005 THANKS TO BUSH/O’KEEFE/GRIFFIN/CONSTELLATION/OBAMA/BOLDEN AND MANY OTHERS WE HAVE RESIGNED OUR POSITION AS THE LEADING MANNED SPACEFARING NATION WHILE SPENDING OUR NICKLE ON A POOR SELECTION OF CANDY
WE ARE NOW WAITING IN THE STORE FOR A RICH MAN TO COME ALONG AND BUY US A PENNY SUCKER TO EAT (CALLED COMMERCIAL)
WE ARE STILL LOOKING AT THE HIGH PRICED CANDY (SLS/ORION) WITH 4 CENTS IN OUR HAND/a rich man came in and bought us a penny sucker- he took a penny out of our hand to buy it
WHAT SHOULD ROMNEY SAY?   Eat your penny candy and stop looking at the expensive candy- we can shop in the lower cost section of the store – it’s healthy candy –why not keep space station and move out to GEO and/or L1/2 with a small space station and international help - fully support our current “commercial” effort – he needs a creditable plan - affordable and safe politics-if he wants a plan other than no comment-newt wanted a plan but went a bridge too far Romney needs a good space advisory group  - HE SHOULD AVOID MIKE GRIFFIN AND FULLY UNDERSTAND WHY-both the Bush and Obama administrations have done some very unfortunate things for our manned spaceflight evolution Romney will need to understand the truth-votes in Florida may become critical again
The Republican Party “Space Plank” in the party “Platform” should include:
1-An enthusiastic endorsement of NASA and mention both unmanned and manned spaceflight and aeronautical /basic research etc.
2- Discuss Budget explain why .4/.5 is plenty of money if spent wisely and that we are going to catch back our leadership position in the world of human spaceflight- give private capital some help-at this level we spend considerably more than any other country
3- Discuss how we plan to use and improve international partnership as we go forward
4- Discuss how we are going to make some real program decisions and start moving – Exploration is broken/commercial is beginning to move
5- Mention GEO and Libration regions not go into great detail
6-  A good space planning group should be able to develop the correct number and priority listings of the above type of statements- Romney will need to understand and be able to handle in a debate or news enviornment
 
Bob Thompson 5/29/12