OxBlog

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

# Posted 10:50 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

OBAMA TO SLASH DEFENSE BUDGET?

Robert Kagan:
Pentagon officials have leaked word that the Office of Management and Budget has ordered a 10 percent cut in defense spending for the coming fiscal year, giving Defense Secretary Robert Gates a substantially smaller budget than he requested.
As a candidate, Obama talked about using a "scalpel" to reduce government in a surgical and precise manner. A ten percent across-the-board cut doesn't sound surgical at all. And what about Obama's commitment to win the war in Afghanistan while increasing the overall size of our land forces?

This decision isn't final, so we can hope that Obama remembers his commitments and restores all or most of the Pentagon's budget. At a moment like this, I am quite glad that Bob Gates is still in charge of DoD.

UPDATE: The budget office demanded a cut in the Pentagon's request for the upcoming year. Even with the cut, the new Pentagon budget may be larger than last year. However, this will depend on whether supplemental funding is provided for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, or if those funds will have to come out of the regular budget.
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Comments:
As a candidate, Obama talked about...what about Obama's commitment...we can hope that Obama remembers his commitments

LOLOLOLOLOLLLLLL!!!!!! Good one!

Say what you will about Obama, but he certainly took to heart the elder Bush's remark that he sees no connection between what a politician says to get elected and what he does once elected.

But we all knew that would be the case. No sense acting otherwise now.
 
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