re: Extremely Faulty Conclusion
I agree that politicians shouldn't be allowed within thirty miles of a technological issue. We are suffering in many areas because of this, not just space flight. I didn't mean to imply that you were wrong on that issue.
As for success and failure in manned spaceflight, I guess it depends on how you measure it. We landed on the Moon in 1969. NASA is currently enthusiastically designing a space capsule that will go on top of a rocket to get people into orbit. Excuse me if this doesn't look like a lot of progress in manned space flight in over thirty years.
The private companies are just starting out, and have probably spent less money combined than NASA spends on office furniture.