COMMENTARY | According to the Space Politics blog, Newt Gingrich plans to make a space policy speech on Florida's space coast probably Wednesday. He said it would be "in the John F. Kennedy tradition rather than the current bureaucracy."
Gingrich has been a fierce critic of what he calls the NASA bureaucracy, according to Fox News, and an advocate for outside-the-box thinking like using prize competitions, according to Space Politics. It has been rare for candidates running for president to make speeches wholly devoted to space issues. Considering that Gingrich is now the front runner for the Republic nomination, this could be a history changer.
It will be interesting to see if Gingrich can lay out a compelling vision for America in space that not only incorporates some of the more interesting ideas such as space prizes and leveraging the commercial sector (in the right way) but which can be bought in by the various political players that control space policy. As a former speaker of the House, Gingrich has to be keenly aware of what it will take to propose and execute a change of direction and get Congress to go along.
Gingrich's invocation of JFK is interesting as it suggests the space program's heroic past, which involved doing a big project, the Apollo program to land a man on the moon. One does not know if the invocation is just thematic or whether he has come around to the idea that NASA, with its bureaucracy obviously shaken up and reformed, has a major role in his new vision that goes beyond being a pay master for prize competitions and commercial companies feeding on government subsidies. Gingrich the historian must remember the examples of Prince Henry the Navigator and Lewis and Clark as well as Apollo. There should be a place for great expeditions to the moon and beyond as part of a larger process to make America a space faring country.
One thing is for certain. A President Gingrich will not regard space as just a box to check off, like both Presidents Bush, or as something to pander and lie about, like President Obama. Space will be a passionate issue for him near the top of the national agenda, as part of making America great again. If his speech presents a plan that is visionary and workable, Gingrich may just change history.
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