The shuttle has been around as a program for more than thirty years. The station is what, twenty years in the making? Of course, the shuttle was sabotaged before it ever got off the ground by a republican administration, and the space station by a democrat administration.
They survived, but by the time the politicians finished changing the recipe it was no longer edible.
NASA needs to do only what can be done in four years or less.
NASA can't even decide what to do in four years, much less accomplish anything.
Future cancellations such as Apollo are definitely on the agendum. Building an infrastructure in space would make too much longterm sense and be an easy target for every politician who needs an issue to run on.
I imagine most of the real infrastructure that allows us to move out of low earth orbit and back to the moon and on to Mars will have to come from the private sector. NASA has too many bureaucratic requirements that make what is really needed (SSTO selling points type of vehicle) impossible a priori.
That's correct. Congress decides what NASA is to do, and year by year. Two years of continuity is achievable, four is barely possible, and six is about the limit. Small, long duration programs such as robot ships to outer planets may survive unnoticed from inception to launch, and then to at least primary goals.