White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters today that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden “misspoke” when he said that one of NASA’s goals was to reach out to Muslim nations in an interview with Al Jazeera recently. Bolden’s interview raised the hackles of right-wing commentators, at least one of whom suggested that Bolden’s comments meant the Obama administration was “leading a sensitivity session” for Muslims at NASA.
Today, under questioning from CNN’s Ed Henry, Gibbs told reporters at the daily press briefing that Bolden “misspoke” in the interview with Al Jazeera, when the NASA chief had said that Obama wanted Bolden “to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations, to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and engineering.”
“That was not his task, and that is not the task of NASA,” Gibbs said.
On the day the flap hit the news last week, the White House said that Bolden’s comments were in keeping with NASA’s mission. Spokesperson Nick Shapiro told TPMDC that Obama, like presidents in the past, invites international cooperation with the U.S. in the exploration of space.
“Meeting that mandate requires NASA to partner with countries around the world like Russia and Japan, as well as collaboration with Israel and with many Muslim-majority countries,” Shaprio said. “The space race began as a global competition, but, today, it is a global collaboration.”
Today, Gibbs was was more dismissive of Bolden’s comments. “I think so, yes,” Gibbs said when asked if Bolden “misspoke” in the interview. Gibbs said President Obama has not discussed the comment with Bolden, but said that “people here at the White House talk to NASA all the time.”
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