President Obama appeared in the Pentagon briefing room earlier today to outline new priorities for the country’s military in the face of budget cuts at the Defense Department. The new strategy Obama envisions will involve, among other things, “ending the ability to fight two wars at once and reducing the U.S. nuclear arsenal” while making a “bigger focus on immediate threats like cyber warfare and terrorism.”
As surely as the sun rises each day, Mitt Romney and the rest of the Republican presidential field (sans Ron Paul) will claim that Obama’s push for a leaner military will endanger America’s safety and security. But in These Austere and War-Weary Times of Ours, the American public seems to be okay with cuts to the military. And Obama has some facts at his disposal to make sure they stay okay with it through election season. For example:
Obama said that the military will indeed be leaner, but the U.S. will maintain a budget that is roughly larger than the next 10 countries’ military budgets combined.
Also:
Obama pointed out that the defense budget would still be larger than it was at the end of the Bush administration.
Doesn’t sound so dangerous anymore, when you put it like that.
