We have not had effective leadership in space in the US since the early Apollo days.
Notable failures include Reagan's half hearted space station initiation, Bush I's 1st trimester abortion of a horrendously expensive NASAfied Mars program and the recent Al Gore X-33 Hangar Queen utter fiasco.

Reviving the Saturn V does not get me excited. It's the 21st century. I am utterly convinced we could revive the aerospace industry if we were to award prizes to the 2 top firms in a competition for effective and safe economical space access. Cost plus awards to predetermined "winners" will not give us a system that opens up space at a reasonable cost.

Less effort than invading Iraq would set human footprints on the moon and Mars.

-p