Well... Arguably, there's four things a space agency can do:
-Basic science
-Engineering
-Business
-Colonization
NASA has been doing 1 & 3 (thought they've kind of lost 3 now), nobody's willing to pay for 4, so it's 2 that's the rub. And I figure the problem there is mentioned lack of focus - Without a clear direction to go, what technologies are supposed to be developed?
The opinion in question comes from the point of view of a manned space program. The astronaut was specifically critical of the current state of manned missions as opposed to the era in which he worked, when manned missions to the moon were a much greater part of NASA's focus.
A lot of it is a big "back in my day" sort of sentiment, but it also points out a lack of commitment and support for manned missions to space, where more experience could be gained. The lack of current manned missions was his point. We're not building toward a mission to Mars currently, no matter what the state of plans might be. Missions to Mars would have a focus on orbital activities at first, building toward a landing. Colonization is yet a longer way off from that. Granted, the moon isn't the same experience as Mars, we keep putting off a return to Luna, as well as space in general, with the Orion vehicle's slow pace of development.
Much of this can be blamed on lack of funding as well as other political reasons, yet the criticism is still valid. For the long term plans we make, we're moving very slow at the moment, at least from the perspective of manned missions. We should be further along.
Granted, the astronaut in question isn't commenting on private firms and what they bring to the table. There's much to be optimistic about, yet the private concerns tend to be overly optimistic, currently. They still have much to prove, though I personally am impressed by their commitment to space exploration and the future exploitation of resources.
One thing I've always said...once commercial interests figure out how to profit from space exploration, we'll be up there all the time and nothing will stop expansion to other worlds, moons, or asteroids.