I very much hope that two hundred years from now, President Bush is remembered most of all as the man who started us on the path back into space…
…long after the economic ripples from early 21st century deficit spending have subsided.
…long after we survived the nuclearization of dangerous dictatorships, either because of or in spite of our leadership.
…long after the rebuilding of post-Sadam Iraq, into the thriving democracy, brutal theocracy, or boiling anarchy it eventually became.
…long after the US and its allies stopped viewing each other with arrogance, suspicion and contempt.
…long after a consensus on the causes of global warming was reached, and that understanding was used to avoid disaster.
…long after some claims that the United States had lost its guiding principles of freedom, openness and tolerance were proven unfounded, while others were heeded as the early warning they were, and our course was corrected.
Some are calling this all election-year posturing, but it’s more than that. This is a vision that humans should excel to heights never before achieved in all of history. It’s a vision that we should strive for knowledge and understanding of things larger than ourselves. And it’s a vision that the nations of the Earth should go together in this journey. This is the sort of vision that can last for centuries.