Barack Obama has been a disappointment to liberals. There’s no arguing that. He didn’t prosecute anybody in the Bush administration for war crimes, or anything else. He didn’t close Guantanamo, and it does no good to remind me of how loudly the Republicans were screeching about it, he could have done that if he’d had any balls because the Republicans just screech about everything no matter what. He’s been a friend to Wall Street (Timothy Geithner), a friend to the oil companies (Keystone Pipeline) and a friend to comic-book-level evil corporation Monsanto, whose goal is to corner the world’s food supply, and starve the lower 99% to death, leaving the planet as a despoiled, but high-tech, wasteland, dotted with oases of brilliant, glittering wealth and abundance.
You never know what you will find on an asteroid
He’s done some good stuff. Even though Obamacare is a seriously watered down version of what is really needed, it is, as Joe Biden so eloquently said, a very big deal. He’s had a few successes abroad. But I keep hoping for more. I keep telling myself “Maybe he’s playing the long game, maybe he’s just waiting for the right moment to start fighting back,” and I am consistently disappointed.
But maybe he’s playing a longer game than anybody thought possible. There are a couple of seriously interesting initiatives in the current budget, which may have a tremendous impact on the overall well-being of the human race – decades from now and on into the infinite future.
First, there is the BRAIN program. The idea is to map the brain, which seems like a no-brainer. Early applications will be medical, which makes it worth it right there, but I think as quickly as cybernetics is developing, this will be a huge step toward mind-machine linkages. Obama may be the prophet, the precursor of the rise of the robots. Or he may have just helped find a cure for Alzheimer’s.
Then, there is the program to catch an asteroid and explore it which would be a two year project, having a spaceship docking with it in 2019 and then, like a tugboat, pulling it into lunar orbit where astronauts would go up and take a closer look in 2021. This is not only wicked cool, not only would this increase our knowledge of the universe, not only will this (with a bit of luck) give us the information we need to prevent future asteroid strikes, but the long term economic implications are huge. The Solar System is loaded with asteroids.
By 2100, Obama may well be viewed as a visionary president. Long game, indeed.
www.gurukalehuru.com 
No one was ever ‘remembered’ for their bread and circuses. He will be remembered as someone who ordered the murder of children, the sellout to banks, and the ultimate destruction of the economy. Leave the sci-fi to writers, visionaries, and those with balls and backbone.
These two programs are hardly bread and circus programs.
good insight, Willie.
I don’t see how “not only will this (with a bit of luck) give us the information we need to prevent future asteroid strikes, but the long term economic implications are huge.” actually would serve either vague purpose. But I do prefer that the money be spent on crazy pipe dreams that keep people occupied without killing any one or bailing out banks that should have been nationalized. Just sayin’