Obama Will Invoke Sputnik in the State of the Union Tonight

This just in from the White House press secretary, as part of the president's prepared remarks:

Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik¸ we had no idea how we’d beat them to the moon. The science wasn’t there yet. NASA didn’t even exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn’t just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs. This is our generation’s Sputnik moment.

This is potentially very powerful stuff. He's used the analogy before, but using it the SOTU means a lot more. I'll be saying more about this tomorrow morning....