Presumably, no one in Washington has a current mailing address for Osama bin Laden, so the Obama administration hasn’t been able to send Al Qaeda a “Reset” button yet. Since novelty toy diplomacy has thus far proven impossible in this case, the president has been forced to rely on the three remaining pillars of his policy for dealing with the Muslim world: apologies, appeasement and adulation. Given that record, there was nothing surprising about NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s saying that the president had tasked his agency with the important job of making the Muslim world feel better about itself. Bizarre initiatives are a hallmark of this administration, so what might have been shocking a couple of years ago has become sadly predictable today. You can roll your eyes only so far into the back of your head.
Yet, the Obama administration apparently recognized that Bolden’s remarks crossed the ludicrous line, as White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs denied on Monday that the president had ever given Bolden such a directive. That doesn’t mean that Obama didn’t actually express such a sentiment to the ex space shuttle astronaut who now heads up NASA, it more likely means that somebody in the administration belatedly recognized that kissing up to the Muslim world that much would be more than a little embarrassing. Admittedly, they’re setting the bar pretty low, but it’s a start. Perhaps the next time the president hooks up with Saudi royalty he won’t feel as inclined to bow, or at least not quite so low.
During his interview on Al Jazeera television, Bolden defined the marching orders that he received from President Obama thus: “—he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering.” Warming to the topic, Bolden went on to justify NASA’s newest priority: “It is a matter of trying to reach out and get the best of all worlds, if you will, and there is much to be gained by drawing in the contributions that are possible from the Muslim (nations),” he said. He held up the International Space Station as a model, praising the contributions there from the Russians and the Chinese. Does that not all sound just like Obama? Does that not sound like the man who promised to have a cozy chat with Ahmadinezhad, who conducted the “apologize for America” tour and who embraced Hugo Chavez? What’s more plausible: that Obama issued orders that are entirely in character with his worldview, or that Bolden – a Marine who retired as a Major General and probably knows a thing or two about the chain of command – made up his own marching orders?
Asking NASA to lead Muslim group therapy is entirely consistent with the president’s approach. It is a matter of commonly-believed historical record (although this belief is disputed by some scholars) that there was a time when Muslims were at the forefront of scientific discovery, particularly in the field of mathematics and astronomy. No one disputes the fact that the age of Muslim primacy in science, if it in fact existed at all, ended a millennia ago. At roughly about that time, the Islamic world abandoned any pretense of participating in the secular search for natural truths, having decided instead that the Quran contains all of the wisdom that mankind could ever want or need.
What is the likelihood that Charles Bolden is lying, and Gibbs and the white house are not?
Would you guess ZERO? me too. Obama's credibility was squandered many lies ago.
It must be really getting crowded under the Obama banishment bus! He has thrown so many people under there since he threw his grandmother under just prior to her death before he was elected President when she disclosed that she was at Barack’s birth in Kenya.
Mr. Bolden, welcome to the "Under the Bus" Group, and join Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Rod Blagojevich, Rashid Khalidi, Tariq Al-Mansour, Edward Said, Obama's white grandmother, and others who were "inconvenient" to the fable that was fed to the American public and the world through the repetitive chant of Hope and Change.
reach out to the JIHADISTS…maybe they can bomb the moon!!!!!
In private corporations or in family businesses when the head of the firm, because of age, dementia, or various ailments begins to act in ways that could sink the business, family members or shareholders will have him declared incompetent to save the company. It seems the list of moves by our president that are counterproductive to the safety of our country, counterproductive to the prosperity of our country, counterproductive to the future of our country has become long enough to warrant an effort to declare him incompetent and have him removed. By allowing him to continue for a full term my set the country back to a point of no return.
The following comment was deleted instantly which indicates I've been banned for some reason. I hereby reinsert it: In private corporations or in family businesses when the head of the firm, because of age, dementia, or various ailments begins to act in ways that could sink the business, family members or shareholders will have him declared incompetent to save the company. It seems the list of moves by our president that are counterproductive to the safety of our country, counterproductive to the prosperity of our country, counterproductive to the future of our country has become long enough to warrant an effort to declare him incompetent and have him removed. By allowing him to continue for a full term my set the country back to a point of no return.
I hope the people who voted our Muslim-in-chief into the White House are hanging their heads in shame.
My sentiments exactly. I've lost a lot of respect for Charlie recently but now have a bit of sympathy for him considering the White House is making him out as a scapegoat in this situation. Obama himself said a few months ago that he wanted to get the Muslim world more involved in science and technology, so would the administration believe that most people will buy the fact that Charlie just made this stuff up? The man is a 4 star Marine general, flew on the shuttle 4 times, he knows a thing or two about following orders, especially when those orders are from the Commander in Chief.
Since when do you have to make someone feel good about themselves? That's not something you can do, but rather, it's something that they do on their own.
Come on, Joe; that's what our schools have been doing for close on 20 years now. Of course that might be why the gang-bangers and hip-hoppers are so proud of themselves…
And also why so few high school grads can actually count or write a paragraph.
Of course Obama is separating himself from the head of NASA's remarks about giving foremost consideration to Muslim feelings. Obama always makes excuses and blames others for his decisions. All you have to do is check the few votes he DID make when he was a Senator, in which he retracted his vote when confronted by special groups who objected to it and his responses was always "I meant to vote the other way but made a mistake in pushing the button, or I wasn't aware of this or that provision in the bill, or I would vote the other way if given the opportunity again, or any other excuse he could think of making. He was too busy getting set up for the presidential campaign and raising all the money, illegal as well, that he could! He is a cry baby and his whining is really getting to me! hE NEEDS TO GROW UP!
Moslems have always believed that the sun revolved around earth. How can they make any meaninful contributions to modern science. Most of the so called moslem contributions were by Christian Armedians.
Very sad for Bolden, a real hero, to be dragged into the muck like this.
Hmm. Kind of a pattern here. The President throwing one of his staff under the bus. I am more inclined to give Mr. Bolden more credibility in this case.
It's too bad there isn't a stop button to push to end all of this nonsense in America and the world. It is going mad!