I was an intern for the White House under President Al Gore. He used the moment to commemorate the life of former President Robert Kennedy and deceased President Bill Clinton in the Rose Garden speech.
As for the issue of Martian colonization, I seriously doubt we will see long-term colonization. With the McCain administration obsessed with its plans of nuclear confrontation with the deployment of troops into Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan; Nanjing sending naval forces and military troops to aid Tehran; and Russia threatening to launch an oil embargo against the EU; colonization is not going to happen anythime soon!!