US Presidency
2010

And understandably, this adds to the worries of folks concerned not only about their own futures but about the future of the space program to which they've devoted their lives. But I also know that underlying these concerns is a deeper worry, one that precedes not only this plan but this administration. It stems from the sense that people in Washington driven sometimes less by vision than by politics have for years neglected NASA's mission and undermined the work of the professionals who fulfill it. We've seen that in the NASA budget, which has risen and fallen with the political winds. But we can also see it in other ways: in the reluctance of those who hold office to set clear, achievable objectives; to provide the resources to meet those objectives; and to justify not just these plans but the larger purpose of space exploration in the 21st century. All that has to change. And with the strategy I am outlining today, it will.