The Next NASA Administrator?

Pete Worden, hands down the best choice for the next NASA administrator. I can't even think of anyone that would be half as good to be second place.

Barbara Morgan? I can't take the guy seriously with that offerring. She's a good person and does her job well as Astronaut and CAPCOM, but what are her administrative credentials?

Hansen? I'm sure every moonbat would love that. Perhaps others wouldn't mind either, because it would destroy all remaining credibility NASA has.

I'm for Steidle... one of the few things McCain is doing right.

Leland - I'll be up front - Hansen, Morgan, and Kranz would not be who I would pick, but I can see an attraction to Senator Obama picking them. In short, I was considering what was plausible, rather than who I liked. I may do a future post of who I actually like.

The attraction to Morgan is thusly - a lot of the language from the Obama campaign, with regards to NASA, has been about education. Mrs. Morgan is a former teacher, and also an astronaut - thus, in essence, she is, to a degree, the quick and easy pick. I don't know of any administrative experience she has had, and so therefore would worry about the direction of NASA, but from that point of view (education background, astronaut) she seems a plausible pick.

As for Hansen - again, from a plausible perspective - whether you, or Rand, agree that global warming is an issue or not, doesn't matter - Senator Obama does, and for a lot of liberals, when the comments about global warming were removed from NASA's charter, and add to the fact that Hansen has become something of an icon in the minds of a lot of people who are concerned about Global Warming - again, the attraction would be there. Would he be a good administrator? Again, I have serious doubts about it, given that I haven't seen any evidence of administrative capablity he has, but I can see an attraction to picking him.

BTW, just so we are clear - this isn't intended as an opening to discussing the issue of global warming, merely that there would be an attraction to Hansen, for the reasons I stated.

As for Stieidle - well, since this was about Obama, and he is a McCain supporter, it didn't make a whole lot of sense

Ferris, the only ones that are plausible are the ones I named (well, perhaps Kranz as well, though I doubt he'd want the job). George Whitesides might be a possibility, but I think he'd be viewed as too young and inexperienced.

If Obama was so politically naive as to pick one of the others, they would not be confirmed by the Senate, even one dominated by Democrats. They are simply unqualified. NASA administrators are not chosen because one agrees with them about global warming (or any other policy issue, for that matter). They are chosen for their perceived ability to manage a highly technical (and political) organization.

Franz,

I do apologize, because I did consider that angle from Barack, but I do hope both Barbara and the Senate would advise him better. I have a lot of respect for Barbara Morgan. I met her recently in MCC as she was headed of to CAPCOM duties. However, I don't see her experience with administration, and if a President Obama selected her, it would solidify my opinion that he is more style over substance.

I can see a Hansen choice with Barack, but I still say it would be a dire mistake. Not only because of global warming, but because it takes NASA completely away from its NACA roots. GISS is a small part of NASA and has equally limited utility. It's function has become so specialized from other NASA organizations that it would better fit under NOAA (which could also get a new administrator under Obama, perhaps Hansen could go there).

I won't disagree with Gene Kranz or Lori Garver. I think Kranz would be a more likely choice for all sorts of reasons, except one... Obama's announced 5 year moratorium on space flight. Which I guess, goes back to your Barbara Morgan proposal.

Myself, I was looking at Rand's question as an open field rather than a bias political selection. Admittedly, that's rather sophmoric considering such is absolutely not the case.

> As for Hansen - again, from a plausible perspective - whether you, or Rand, agree that global warming is an issue or not, doesn't matter - Senator Obama does, and for a lot of liberals, when the comments about global warming were removed from NASA's charter, and add to the fact that Hansen has become something of an icon in the minds of a lot of people who are concerned about Global Warming - again, the attraction would be there.

Ferris, the issue with Hansen isn't his position, but rather his attitudes towards those who disagree with him. I've pasted a couple Hansen quotes below.

"The contrarians will be remembered as court jesters. There is no point to joust with court jesters ... The real deal is this: the royalty controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children."

"CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware
of long-term consequences of continued business as usual. In my opinion,
these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature."

Neil,

Whether its you like/dislike his politics, agree/disagree with his findings, like/dislike his attitudes, or find his tie attire great/awful isn't really relevant to my point.

From the stand point of who Obama might consider for the position of NASA administrator, I would argue that Hansen has an element of plausibility to him, in terms of Obama picking him to be NASA administrator. Whether he would be good, or not, is a different question, but from a purely plausible perspective, I say he would be in the consideration. I've seen more than a few people over at Dkos suggest him (although a good majority of those people know next to nothing about space policy, I will admit).

At the end of the day, the list was more intended to provoke discussion, especially by the Dkos community, about Obama's space policy, and who would reflect that policy.

From the stand point of who Obama might consider for the position of NASA administrator, I would argue that Hansen has an element of plausibility to him, in terms of Obama picking him to be NASA administrator.

No, Ferris. With all due respect, he does not. Unless Obama makes the decision himself, and pays no attention whatsoever to either his science or political advisors.

Hansen has no credentials whatsoever to running a government agency.

He is a scientist. He has no administrative experience. He has no engineering experience. He has no industry experience. He has no political experience (or what he has is bad). If he is chosen, it will mean that Obama has chosen idiots for advisors in selecting agency heads, or that he is an idiot himself. The Senate, even a Democrat Senate, would never approve him.

Like others on your list, he is totally implausible as a candidate for the job. Or if not, an Obama administration would be an even bigger disaster than I fear.

Aw, come on, people! Putting Hansen in charge of the space program would be as implausible as ... oh, putting Trofim Lysenko in charge of a nation's agriculture.

Ferris,

So far in the campaign Obama seems to have tended to choose advisors based more-or-less on credentials and expertise, rather than political extremism. He's also tended to eschew divisive figures, or at least try to distance himself from them. Maybe this is an unwise projection, but I'd like to think/hope that he would behave similarly as president, and therefore would have zero chance of nominating someone like Hansen.