The $18 billion misunderstanding?

NASA Charles Bolden got our attention last week when he revealed during an interview with Al Jazeera that President Obama had assigned three tasks to him, perhaps the foremost of which was “to reach out to the Muslim world.” Bolden revealed that Obama had told him as the NASA administrator to help make Muslims feel better about themselves by reminding them of their supposed contributions to leaning in ages past.
Byron York originally reported Bolden’s Al Jazeera comments in the Washington Examiner, and then returned to the story to add details. One infers from York’s reportage that Bolden has been actively engaged in fulfilling the “foremost” task assigned to him by Obama.
Last week, as I recall, the White House supported Bolden. But it turns out that, according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday, what we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.
During yesterday’s press briefing, CNN’s Ed Henry asked Gibbs why NASA should focus on reaching out to the Muslim world. Gibbs responded: “That’s an excellent question and I don’t think…that is not his task, and that was not asked of him.” Henry volunteered the current White House line on the story: “So he misspoke?” That was good enough for Gibbs: “I think so.”
I don’t think so.