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“You almost certainly can. Microbial life created the lion’s share of earth’s oxygen and along with other forms of life altered the atmosphere in many other ways.”

Correlation is not causation. Why the earth’s atmosphere has oxygen is not proof of why another planet’s atmosphere has oxygen. In fact the theories of from where earth’s atmosphere got its oxygen is not “settled science”.

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-oxygen-from-carbon-dioxide-20141001-story.html

When and if we can actually travel beyond this solar system - 100, 200, 300,+ years - there will be plenty of time to “look for alien life” outside our solar system. Right now it’s a giant guessing game with adults given plenty of expensive toys to engage in what I call “scientific crystal ball gazing”. Government funding should be no where near these soothsayers.

Yes, but what you are proposing is essentially 300 years of naval gazing. Telescopes are on the drawing board right now that can study these planetary atmospheres in some detail. Why wait? You are not going to halt the continued development and use of them. In fact, now that I mention it, when exactly would you be okay with studying exoplanet atmospheres remotely? Or do you want us to wait until we can jump into the Starship Enterprise and fly off to sample these planets firsthand for life? Luddism comes in many forms, one of which is interminable delay.

And, OF COURSE, it's not just about oxygen, but about everything life pumps into the atmosphere. The atmosphere is practically a living organism itself. Why not study it and learn what you can? To say that you can't learn anything about life by studying atmospheres is pure rubbish.