I've written about this before, I'll try not to repeat too many of my points :), and thanks to my wonderful editor, no reason to link Obama's speech on this as he's already linked it :)

    First off, my thoughts on his speech.... Goes without saying that Obama knows how to give a good speech, but beyond that, I truly believe that he cares deeply about space exploration and is committed to it. While he really didn't commit to any time frames or specific goals beyond Mars by 2030, he does believe in the potential of space for not only the US but also the world. He sees the potential out there.

    There has been a lot of resistance to this change from the space/industrial complex, and yes there is one, just as there is a military/industrial complex. Lot's of talk about losing jobs but really when it comes down to it, it's the companies who have been living fat and happy under NASA's less than efficient project plans. Boeing and the other companies involved with the Constellation program don't want to share the wealth. But the Constellation program was already over budget with very little actual hardware to show for near 10 billion dollars invested.
I think in the end this new direction will actually create more jobs due to opening the field to more innovative companies that are not a part of the existing industry.

       Huge cost overruns have always plagued NASA when it comes to manned spaceflight. On the other hand, NASA has done amazing things with projects like the Hubble and robotic exploration of our solar system. They have proven to be very good at that. But they've really not ever done well in terms of cost and efficiency for the manned programs.  

      If you look at the history of exploration and yes, exploitation of our world, it's been driven far more by entrepreneurs and private business  than governments.  We need that same dynamic to drive our space exploration, we need the innovation that private industry can bring to our expansion into space. So to me this plan is a win/win proposition, it not only puts more money into NASA's budget but also puts a good chunk into helping private industry develop the new and cheaper technology that we need to be at the forefront of space tech.

  We are at the point where we need private industries to step up and find ways to make money out of space exploration. We need to do far more to develop space industry. We need industrial space stations at the LaGrange points that can utilize zero gravity to make better materials than we can make on Earth. Combine that with asteroid mining or a moon colony for raw material and you have a huge new pool of resources that not just we (the US) can use, but our whole planet can use . The resources of this planet we live on are finite, if we want to survive we will need to start using the comparatively endless resources that are out in space.

   The new plan sounds good to me , it increases NASA's budget and at the same time encourages private industry to get more involved in not only cheaper ways to get us to orbit and beyond, but it also opens the the way for actual exploitation of the many resources that are out there just waiting  for us to use.

    The new plan seems to me to be far more sustainable than the Constellation program,not to mention cheaper. It also has  the potential for creating  more  jobs in the long run. We have to remember that any investment in our space program is a long term thing, but also that we as a people will see spin offs from that tech that makes our life better.There are so many things in our daily life we take for granted that have come out of NASA and our space program, that many of us could not live without.

My 2cp......