Is Insourcing a Luxury?

    A recent DrudgeReport headline screamed:

OUTSOURCED IN SPACE: NASA ASTRONAUT ON RUSSIAN ROCKET

The headline linked to an Investors Business Daily website story about NASA's next astronaut heading into space:

Now, here's some real Obama outsourcing. 

This morning, Kazakhstan time, the next mission to the International Space Station successfully blasted off carrying the usual trio -- a Russian commander, an astronaut from the international community and an American in a seat rented by NASA since the retirement of the last U.S. space shuttle a year ago this month.

Given the Obama administration's recent criticism of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital as serial outsourcers, this story has more than a touch of irony.  However, the irony is sharpened by an Obama comment I unearthed recently during the student loan interest "Don'tDoubleMyRate" debate.  The president had stated that "Higher education cannot be a luxury reserved for the privileged few."  So I looked back at some other non-luxuries from past Obama statements and found this:

"And so, as President, I believe that space exploration is not a luxury, it’s not an afterthought in America’s quest for a brighter future -- it is an essential part of that quest."

So essential, in fact, that we must outsource the transportation for our space exploration to Russia?  Sort of like the Canadian-made bus that the Obama campaign got for the president?  I guess some luxuries are more luxurious than others.