At this point I wouldn’t call it any riskier than exploring for oil in Antarctica. Unfortunately its just as profitable for exactly the same reason.
Couldn’t an Obama-like administration simply wait until private space development gets further along and then step back in and nationalize it all for reasons of national security?
Nailed it.
The problem with privatizing space is return on investment. There are some places where space is a money-maker; but most stuff -- especially manned -- has no apparent short-term profit.