Andrew Romanoff Signifies BP Disaster – "our generations’ Sputnik;"

[liskddksil]

Andrew Romanoff, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Colorado made the following remarks at an event this morning at GeoSynFuels, a Golden, CO based bio-fuels company.

"This spill should be our Sputnik. We need what Congressman Jay Inslee and others have called a new Apollo program for energy independence. As Tom Friedman has written, this is our generation’s "moon shot."

The Soviet Union’s arrival in space galvanized our government, our economy and our society. Within a year, Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Defense Education Act.

The Soviets’ success sparked a revolution in American education, research and development and steered millions of Americans toward careers in science, engineering and mathematics. Sputnik stirred not only our fears but also our imagination

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/53970
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This guy is the real deal, with a real vision to transform our energy policy, and create major investments in clean transportation such as high speed rail and fuel-efficient automobiles.

[yodoobo]

1. curious analogy. Sputnik was a great thing

for mankind. A scientific and human breakthrough of true greatness.


This oil spill. Well its sort of the opposite.

[liskddksil]

2. Of Course, but the worst of tragedies could force us to change our ways permanently nt

[karynnj]

3. The analogy is weird - but the recommendation is good

[yodoobo]

8. yes. I should have acknowledge it.

Its a great recommendation of course.

Why not channel the anger of one our greatest follies into what could be a great triumph?

[rockymountaindem]

4. The Sputnik launch scared the crap out of a lot of Americans

because it signaled that we had fallen behind the Soviets technologically (although this was not really the case). It prompted a renewed investment in the space program and an increase focus on science and math education and the promotion of engineering research.

Perhaps Romanoff is suggesting that this spill should spark a new focus on alternative energy and energy independence. That would be an appropriate analogy, and he gets point from me for bringing up an event which is all too obscure these days.

[DeSwiss]

5. Yes, it is a somewhat curious analogy.....

...and yet I also remember that the main thing Sputnik-I did was to scare the shit out of the American military and Congress who began to pour money into the space program. It was clear that the old technology of B-52 bombers and the use of U2's for spying was not enough any longer.

Sputnik ushered-in the era of the idea that space could be used to not only deliver atom bombs, but to monitor the enemy in a way they couldn't shoot down as they had with Francis Gary Powers. Until Sputnik, all America's space program seemed to excel at was blowing up rockets on their launch pads. But the fear that Sputnik conjured-up is what finally got us into outer space. And four months after Sputnik, there was http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=721">Explorer I.

The old enemy may have been the Soviets. But the real enemy, then and now, are the corporations. But the Deep Horizon oil spill isn't scaring the American military and Congress the way Sputnik did.

- But it should.....


on edit: spelling

[inna]

6. maybe he meant Apollo?

:shrug:

[liskddksil]

7. Apollo, which was preceded by Mercury and Gemini, was the reaction to the Sputnik Launch

so his analogy is correct. Therefore, the energy revolution that we need is the Apollo project. Bill Richardson used the Apollo project terminology in the 2008 Primary debates.