Will we look back and ask ourselves whether the decision to abandon space was a wise decision? Or will historians look back and identify this decision as a textbook example of when America sacrificed long-term strategic goals for short-term interests.

America's mayors, in their annual state of the village speeches at local libraries, chambers of commerce and community centers, are compelled to keep it real.

I was around for the launching of Sputnik in 1957. It created a huge wave of shock and paranoia. Obama was trying to create a mood of crisis in the country, and for a reason: That's the only way we get things done.

This was not the eloquent speech that the president is capable of delivering. His tone throughout was conversational and steady, rather than pointed.

Obama is likely to lean more heavily on "reaching out" to Republicans. He knows full well that if anything legislative is going to get done in the next two years, Republicans are going to have to be on board.

While Obama may indeed be right about America being in serious danger of falling behind on a worldwide scale, this Sputnik moment simply doesn't have a Sputnik. There is no one overarching threat.