Notes From Norm January 6th: Obama, Defense is No Offense

"Our national debt is our biggest national security threat.”

- Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,  June 24, 2010

“I haven’t changed my view that the continually increasing debt is the biggest threat we have to our national security.”

- Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,    August 2, 2011

When President Obama stepped up to the podium yesterday to announce to America his intention to dramatically reduce the size of our nation’s military, he had this to say to the world that has depended on this nation’s willingness to defend freedom and liberty throughout the globe since the beginning of the Cold War:

“Yes, our military will be leaner, but the world must know the United States is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats.”

Somewhere in Syria, Iran, Venezuela, China and Russia, I suspect the leaders in those nations heard this:

“The United States is unprepared and unwilling to face the challenges of the current and future decade to stand firm against aggression and threats to the peace and security of the world.”

While Americans will have to wait to see the full impact of the Obama Administration’s plan to reduce the size, scope and capabilities of our nation’s military, the President has already made it very clear that in a nation with a debt that will soon reach $16 trillion, he is willing to put our nation’s safety and security at risk rather than his own political future.

Despite warnings from political leaders on both sides of the aisle, and the nation’s highest ranking military official that our national debt is the single greatest threat to our safety and security, the President is still convinced that the foundation’s that have built, preserved and protected America for generations are at the heart of what ails our nation.

Let me be clear, I do believe there are substantial savings that can, and must, be found in our nation’s military.  With the massive size of expenditures that are dedicated to maintaining our nation’s safety and security, commonsense dictates that there is going to be inefficiencies and waste that should be rooted out of the system.

Additionally, it would be foolish for any Commander-in-Chief to not continually assess and re-assess the threats that are posed to our nation from other nations at any given time.

However, the fallacy presented by the President is that it is the size of the nation’s military and its purpose that must be dramatically altered because of the nation’s fiscal burden.

On the contrary, it is the size of the nation’s debt that must be dramatically altered in order to ensure our nation’s safety and security.

When given the opportunity to lead to cut the nation’s budget debt, and to reduce our deficit, the President’s response has been to spend more and more money on his own pet projects.

It’s an interesting paradox with this President that he is willing to commit the treasure of our nation to a health care plan that is already obese with waste, inefficiency and failure because it is his idea and his legacy.

Yet, he is unwilling to make the tough choices on spending and reducing our debt in order to ensure that our military remains the strongest, most effective fighting force on Earth.

To those who believe this is a partisan issue, the facts are not on their side.

It wasn’t just Republicans who have voiced serious concerns that the President’s cuts would be disastrous for America’s military capabilities – it was his own Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, who articulated that these types of deeps cuts to our military would be “devastating”.

A blue-ribbon panel created by Congress, chaired by former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry and former National Security Adviser Steve Hadley, reviewed earlier strategic plans of the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Gates. 

Overwhelmingly, and unanimously, they concluded that our military could not defend America unless our military inventory was modernized, and the size of our military was increased.

To be blunt, according to Perry-Hadley Commission findings,  the policy proposed by the President means “a train wreck is coming” and our national security will suffer as a result.

The prudent course of action by the President long ago would have been to have made it clear to the American people that if we cannot reduce our more than $15 trillion debt it would have a clear and present danger on our safety and security.

He could have had the courage to stand up and admit that the true threat to our national security is the failure to address the culprit of entitlement spending and the price we pay for not getting it under control.

Instead, it is almost as if the President hoped for this moment.  That he was accepting of the premise that his failure to lead would lead to a time that he would need to hold a press conference to announce to the world that the most powerful nation on Earth is prepared to cede its position.

It’s clearly inconceivable that this President would have stood before the American people, with a strong determined look on his face, and announce that the fiscal monster that is ObamaCare would need to be repealed because the nation simply cannot afford it.

It is a matter of priorities for our nation, and the President’s priorities have remained consistent and crystal clear.

Protect the size and growth of government when it serves his political purposes and motives.

And, cut the size and growth of government when it does not.

It’s another indictment on this President that  those programs the President seeks to preserve, do nothing to protect America.

And, those that he seeks to cut, do everything to protect us.