Critical time

A Mars project would not be as bad as you think if it is not cut abruptly as
the Apollo program. I'd agree that a big push toward Mars would be better for High Frontier than no new projects in space at all. In space, what count is not distance, it is energy or delta
vee. In that respect, the martian satellites are are better target than the
Moon. To a certain extent. But travel times must be taken into account too, and can make a big difference wrt life-support requirements. Also, it's possible that teleoperation may become available. If so, it could be implemented on the moon, but not at the distance of Mars.