May former Ted Stevens and others who died in the Alaskan plane crash rest in peace. Our prayers are with them — and with the survivors, who will have both physical and emotional injuries to overcome.
Let me say how thrilled I am to see that former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe and his son were survivors. O’Keefe, at age 54, still has a lot to offer his country. He is one of those guys who seems omni-competent. He did a great job in two major positions at the Pentagon, at OMB, at NASA, at LSU, and in private industry. He earned near-universal plaudits for his response as NASA chief to the tragedy of the space shuttle Columbia. He is a pro-Defense, no-nonsense guy in the Cheney mode. He is a patriot. He would have been a great loss had he not survived.
There was brief talk in 2008 of him running for Senate against Mary Landrieu. Frankly, I thought the Rove team was crazy NOT to make recruiting O’Keefe a priority. I think he would have pushed Landrieu to the limit, and may well have beaten her. He would have been a stronger candidate than the philosphically malleable John Kennedy, a basically good guy but hardly a solid conservative or a galvanizing candidate. (This isn’t a knock on John; he is who he is, and he does a great job as state treasurer. But I digress.)
Here’s hoping for a full and fast recovery for O’Keefe and his son, and, after a couple of years, perhaps a return to public service. These United States need good men like him to make our government work the way it should.
