An American Apollo Project: Olympus

As the sun sets on the Presidential term of George W. Bush the embattled White House begins the odious task of legacy building. Doubtless Mr Bush envisioned himself first as the President that would win the "War on Terror," and then later the President that would bring peace and security to Iraq. With these tasks unfinished and increasingly unpopular, Mr. Bush has turned to the leaders of his youth to supply the vision for the remainder of his stay at 1600 Pennsylvania.

Though he would die a few years after the inauguration of his most enduring legacy, Kennedy is nonetheless most remembered for an accomplishment that occurred well after his death. Kennedy's challenge to America, to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth, is paired almost irrevocably with Neil Armstrong's "one small step for [a] man" speech. It is therefore entirely predictable and unsurprising that President Bush would turn to Kennedy's vision as the road-map for his own legacy; yet this undertaking will not buy for President Bush, no matter how great the price-tag, a legacy to rival President Kennedy's.

If it is the furtherance of technology, exploration, and science that President Bush seeks, his goals are ill met with a return to the moon. Expensive and inglorious, the moon evokes, not images of a shining future, but the grainy images of Apollo 11 some thirty years ago. If it is technology, exploration, and science that Mr Bush lauds, his funds and energies are best spent, not in the Sea of Tranquility, but in the Pacific Ocean -- the presumptive base for a revolutionary means of reaching beyond our atmosphere: a Space Elevator.