President Obama should bring back the manned space program. He cancelled the Constellation program which was destined to return the US to the moon, while maintaining a low orbit manned capability. It is time to reverse this policy.

If there is one thing that clearly validates America's exceptionalism it's that there is an American flag on the moon. And therein lies the problem. That flag was put there, for the most part, by buzz-cut white males, wearing short sleeved whites shirts , and skinny ties. Furthermore, they did all this using mostly sliderules. For our first post-colonial, citizen-of-the-world President, such an image is akin to a modern-day Oedipus' desire to put out his own eyes. Is it any wonder that deep sixing the space program was high on his "to do" list, right after sending that bust of Churchill back to the British.

We are now in the humiliating position of trying to catch a ride on a manned low-orbit Russian rocket; a little like having to wave down a cab, all the while being ripped off because the meter is broken. Meanwhile, NASA is reduced to "outreach programs" for Muslims, so they can feel better about themselves. If it were left to Obama and Bloomberg there would , no doubt, be a NASA kiosk in the Ground Zero mosque for this very purpose.

To support their position the administration uses a sort of "nullification advocacy" . In defending a policy at variance to the majority of knowledgeable players in a particular discipline, the administration trots out a highly visible individual or two , who agrees with them. Positions thereby are nullified--game, set, match.

Now keep quiet.

In this case, Buzz Aldrin was the nullifier. From every indication Buzz is a bit of a wildcard --from the well documented saga of his personal demons of alcoholism and depression, to his persistent attempts to get his foot out the door first on Apollo 11's moon landing, he clearly is a complicated man. Nevertheless, he says Obama is correct, therefore no need to pay heed to Neil Armstrong, Eugene Cernan, Jim Lovell, and the rest. Is this wise? Of course not.

The rationale for all this is that we can't afford it. We can, of course, afford to stuff dollar bills in every little nook and cranny that the neo-socialist, unionistas of the Apollo Alliance can identify. Unfortunately these tax payer bonuses extend not just to our own Country, but to places like Brazil and Mexico, where we are now subsidizing their deep water oil drilling. This of course makes no sense, and for all this money, here at home, there is nary a trace left behind, nor a result to be found. One thing about the space program - seeing where the money goes is fairly apparent.

We cannot let the Russians , Chinese, or anybody else dominate space. Allowing all our substantial accomplishments go to waste is crazy--vaporized in a temper tantrum of income redistribution, and political correctness . We must have men in space. We must have the ability to put them there. We are indeed exceptional . This should be a rallying cry for the Republicans, the Tea Party, Sara Palin, and anybody else who still sees America as something special. The message: we've shrugged off the doldrums, we've stopped the defeatism, and exorcised the malaise. We are back baby and we are going to space!