Shuttle successor flawed and dangerous

Shuttle successor flawed, dangerous, GAO report finds -- Laws, Kennedy Space Center, NASA -- OrlandoSentinel.com

I always thought putting a 2nd stage on top of an existing booster was too simplistic. The booster just doesn't have that much power, it burns for what about 2 minutes, but it takes the shuttle 8.5 to get to orbit. So they've added a segment to the booster and a significant "2nd stage" to get the Orion vehicular to orbit. The orion weights much less than the shuttle, so it needs less energy to get to orbit, but assuming the existing booster design (plus one segment) would be the best first stage was guess work. Now we're stuck with it and are learning it is underpowered and vibrates too much.

I never understood why this was going to be easier than man-rating an existing rocket like the Deltas or Atlases.

Plus, although I understand the rationality and practicality of it, the whole "capsule" design is just uninspiring to me. Something like the proposed Russian Kliper would be more emotionally satisfying to me.