Oh boy is there a lot to discuss here!
I think backing out of ISS after we've built it is tacitly admitting that it is, in fact, useless. Let our partners have their way with it and make it a truly "international" station, while we spend our money on something more worthwhile. And by the way, let them all keep the Soyuz program finacially viable. Pretty shrewd.
There is an alarming military component to the Chinese space program that should not be underestimated, considering our everyday reliance on orbiting capital. My industry alone (commercial aviation) would be in chaos if they managed to cripple the GPS constellation, for instance. Our military would be even worse off. And make no mistake, the Chinese changed their strategic position on the US several years ago and believe we are a threat to their long-term interests. I want cislunar space to become a suburb too, but somebody's got to protect it!
Finally, exploration is a good thing in and of itself and I believe a proper role for government - as long as they're paving the way for private industry. The "jobs program" comment in the Washington (bleep) Post is garbage, IMHO. They have been notorious for completely missing the point on this all along, and are not above editorializing in a news story. Bush is not a "space guy" but neither was JFK. What he does believe in is getting our money's worth, and if we're going to have a space program then let's stop literally going in circles and DO something. This is the end result from a presidential commission on human spaceflight that was started two years ago. I wouldn't call it either "election-year pandering" or a "jobs program".