What is it about going to the moon, anyway?

Richard Nixon axed the last three or four moonshots in the early 70's. Then there was a 20 year swing with the shuttles. Now the shuttles are gone. NASA *was* going to launch rockets to the moon again, with people on them to do more exploration. Apparently, some interesting things were found on the last trip, they want to find more. Alas. Obama shut them down and cut their budget by half. With a budget like this, NASA can hardly launch a weather balloon, much less do anything specific in space. What is it about the moon that makes it so impossible for politicians to see anything exciting or new, or any reason at all to go back there? Why is it so much easier to spend on something old and tired, like a war that nobody really wants?