It now appears that people in the Pentagon and in NASA are feedinb Obama and his transition team scare stories about a Chinese manned program to the moon:

President-elect Barack Obama will probably tear down long-standing barriers between the U.S.’s civilian and military space programs to speed up a mission to the moon amid the prospect of a new space race with China.

The argument is that the Chinese will be able to put a man back on the moon before the US’s goal of 2020.

It should be noted that planting a flag on the moon means nothing.

That China is making strides in space development is true, and the military implications are a legitimate concern, and the idea of replacing NASA’s Ares vehicles with existing vehicles, which means military launchers because NASA has meticulously destroyed the opposition on their end, is a good thing.

But this whole “race to the moon” thing is 6 pounds of sh%$ in a 5 pound bag.

If Obama and his team believe this, I have some ballots in Florida for them to count.