To the Moon

So why is President Bush taking about establishing a moon station? Is this merely an election-year ploy? Is this a backhanded way of revving up the aerospace industry and militarizing space? Does this stem from a personal intellectual fascination with the wonders of space? (Ha ha ha)
According to the Washington Post, the administration seeks a “Kennedy moment“:

Sources involved in the discussions said Bush and his advisers view the new plans for human space travel as a way to unify the country behind a gigantic common purpose at a time when relations between the parties are strained and polls show that Americans are closely divided on many issues.
“It’s going back to being a uniter, not a divider,” a presidential adviser said, echoing language from Bush’s previous campaign, “and trying to rally people emotionally around a great national purpose.”

[See Ezra Klein’s post on why this is a missed opportunity to bring people together.]
So who really knows what’s going on behind the scenes. Just to be safe, though, it might not be a bad idea to make sure that neither the Bush’s nor any of their cronies have a financial interest in this company.