Obama's NASA kickback to be revealed April 15th

The White House has announced that Obama will hold a press conference on April 15th at the Kennedy Space Center to discuss the future of NASA. Then we'll know how one of the largest kickbacks in the health care reform bill will pay out. During the ObamaCare debate, Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, Democrat of Florida, met with the president and demanded more funding for the Kennedy Space Center which is in her district. It was never revealed whether Obama cut a deal, but Kosmas voted yes last night. The president's current budget only provides cash-strapped NASA with $19 billion for KSC, which is slated to lose 9,000 jobs this year.

Kosmas may be politically damned regardless of what she did. One of her Republican challengers, Craig Miller, has already accused Kosmas of being "bought off in some way." Floridians might revolt over Kosmas' selling of her vote the same way Nebraskans were outraged over the Cornhusker Kickback, even though it benefited their state.

Either way the president can't be expecting a warm reception at the press conference. Obama has targeted NASA for huge budget cuts, including axing the Constellation and Ares rocket programs altogether. Privately, one senior administration official scoffed, "We certainly don't need to go back to the moon." Needless to say, American exceptionalism and exploration have never played well with the president. The space community isn't happy with the president lately. As a blogger for Discover magazine chided, "[S]pace exploration is important. I find it difficult to believe Obama doesn’t know that."

Meanwhile Obama also may be planning to foist an inexperienced new NASA Administrator on them. Word last week was that, in exchange for his vote on health care, the president promised Rep. Bart Gordon the head NASA position. Gordon ultimately voted yes. He has no space experience whatsoever, other than serving on the House Committee on Technology and Science.

Bribery we can believe in

As the Sunday deadline for passing ObamaCare swiftly approaches, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama are desperately doing whatever they can to convince fence-sitting Democrats. They'll stop at nothing at this point, including bribery. We already saw how effective political kickbacks can be in the Senate, where Ben Nelson was bought off with full Medicaid funding for his state. Now special dealmaking has come to the House. Here are just a few of the bribes that have been dangled in front of jittery Blue Dogs' noses.

Rep. Bart Gordon: Gordon is retiring and word on Capitol Hill yesterday was that Obama had offered him the job of NASA administrator if he voted for the bill. Gordon has served on the House Committee on Technology and Science, but otherwise has absolutely no scientific experience whatsoever. Meanwhile a provision was inserted in the reconciliation package that gives higher Medicaid funding to Tennessee hospitals that treated uninsured patients. Gordon flipped from no to yes yesterday.

Rep. John Tanner: Another retiring Tennessean, word has it that Tanner was offered the position of U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Tanner served on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, but otherwise has no foreign policy experience. The deal for Tennessee hospitals likely played a role in Tanner's switch from no to yes as well.

Rep. Suzanne Kosmas: Kosmas met with Obama at the White House last Thursday and reportedly sought out her own deal. Talking with the president, she kept switching the conversation to NASA. Kosmas, a Floridian, represents the Kennedy Space Center and is unhappy that the president's budget is "only" providing KSC with $19 billion next year. Kosmas has yet to make up her mind, but it wouldn't be surprising if she voted yes after Obama guaranteed more generous funding.

Rep. Jim Matheson: Matheson was summoned to the White House earlier this month to meet with the president about ObamaCare. Mere hours before the appointment, Obama announced that he was nominating Matheson's brother, Scott, to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The bribe doesn't seem to have worked; it triggered a public outcry and Matheson is still undecided.

Meanwhile several other congressmen have been wooed by the president with abject lies. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who opposed the bill from the left, was convinced by the president's stories about Natoma Canfield. We now know that these stories were a lie and that Canfield likely qualifies for Medicaid, among a dozen other options. The optimistic CBO report, which fails to take into account the bill's accounting trickery, may also sway some votes.