From a strictly education point of view, there's certainly been enough reports describing the decline in American K-12 public education.  More specifically, many aerospace and other technology firms decry the insufficient number of students mastering the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines once they get to college.  We are competing in a global economy, and this economy is fueled by STEM, especially the big T.  Perhaps Mr. Obama is too young to understand how NASA's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs led to a tremendous number of STEM-educated graduates and STEM-based industries and jobs, and how this helped propel the US economy to the heights we take for granted today.  However, there was a horrible downside to this; when the public got bored with repetitive Moon landings and the political will required to continue funding such landings vaporized, many STEM jobs were lost... along with an exciting motivation for students to study the STEM disciplines.

So what are the historical lessons?  Space activity is exciting to many students and provides a powerful motivator for STEM education, but the jobs need to be there.  The jobs won't last if they rely on steady political support and increased NASA funding, which Mr. Obama's statement demonstrates is a risky proposition.  Space activity simply isn't a priority for Congress or any of the Presidential candidates, and at best is seen as a way to maintain existing NASA and contractor jobs that rely on Federal funding.

Which leads me to a space economy point of view.  Would the loss of billions of dollars of NASA funding be a good thing?  Yes, but only under one condition; a smaller NASA is directed to focus on the distant solar system where commerce can't yet happen, and a new (and small) Federal agency is created to work with the private sector and support the development of a commercial Earth-orbit-asteroid-lunar transportation and communication infrastructure.  In the 21st Century, this is how you create the aerospace jobs that will employ those students who become motivated by commercial space careers to master the STEM disciplines.  This is how you create an economically viable and thus permanent foundation for space exploration, settlement and development.  This is how you extend the Earth's economy further and further into space.

So, yes, there is a connection between space activity and education, as seen with the Space Frontier Foundation's Teachers in Space project.