I think it should be one of the goals of mankind. There is no fundamental law of physics that says we can't make it routine. The author states that they don't think it will be feasible in our lifetime. However the amount of technological advancement that has been made over the past century is astounding. There is no reason to think this would be unfeasible.
(I would not be surprised if getting to space eventually becomes unremarkable, though I would be surprised if it happened in my lifetime. I would be stunned if launching a vehicle from dirt to space ever became as routine as air travel is today, however, because it doesn't make very much sense.)
Yes, there are fundamental laws of physics that say we cannot make it routine. [1]
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation
What the table shows is that it might be theoretically possible to develop some other technology, not that such a technology actually will come into existence.
I wonder if going to space will become routine before supraconduction and MHD drives are widespread. Like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamato_1 for air travel.