Obama’s Gutting of US Military Begins

As I see it, one of the biggest problems with the United States of America today is that we’ve abandoned self-reliance and personal responsibility. Although the vast majority of liberals today could care less, as long as their interests are represented, I have certain minimum expectations for those who seek the privilege to lead this country. And those expectations are non-negotiable.

At a minimum, one who seeks the presidency should have been thoroughly vetted, proven to be Constitutionally eligible to serve the office they seek and be of good moral character. They should not engage in criminal behavior, hypocrisy, bullying or dishonesty while performing their duties. And if that is too much to ask of our politicians, particularly a president, then the best days of this country are but a distant memory.

Over and over again, Barack Obama has hammered away at three themes; what he calls the three legs that prop up the stool of his agenda; the stool that you and I built, but that professional victims and those who have abandoned personal responsibility are resting their butts on:

• Education
• Health Care
• Renewable Energy

He who leads has told us that these investments can and must be made. Right now. Although I disagree with him ideologically how and at what pace these things should be done, if at all, to many they make sense. A healthy, educated workforce powered by cheap, clean, renewable energy is part of a long-term success strategy, but the way that Obama is bringing this about it is scandalous.

Last Thursday, Obama released his long-awaited 2010 budget, along with a list of Terminations, Reductions and Savings. To our peril, military weapons programs comprised nearly one third of all discretionary spending reductions.

Terminations to military weapons Programs:

• Complete shutdown of the C-17 Globemaster production line.
• Termination of the Air Force’s CSAR-X Helicopter Program.
• Complete shutdown of the F-22 Raptor production line.
• Elimination of Manned Ground Vehicles from the Future Combat Systems Program.
• Complete termination of the Multiple Kill Vehicle Program.
• Termination of the Air Force’s Transformational Satellite Program.
• Termination of the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Program
• Termination of the Reliable Replacement Warhead program.
• Termination of the Next Generation Bomber Program
• Complete shutdown of the Yucca Mountain Repository.

 Reductions to military programs:

• Airborne Laser Program.
• Aircraft Carrier build schedule.
• Ground-based, Mid-Course Defense Program.
• USMC LPD-17 and USN Mobile Landing Platform.
• Navy CG-X Cruiser.
• End-strength recruiting and retention adjustments.

According to Obama, terminating the next-generation V-71 Presidential helicopter is fiscally responsible, but it isn’t really being cut.

Unhappy with cost overruns, technological hurdles and delays, V-71 research and production is being terminated, but he’ll still get his helicopter; a new program for a replacement will be funded in fiscal year 2011.  While throwing good money after bad is not the solution to any of our financial problems, neither is flushing money down the toilet. On the V-71 alone, he’ll save some $750 million, but that savings will be offset by the $13 billion spent on the helicopter thus far.

With the systems such as the Air Force’s CSAR-X helicopter or Transformational Satellite, other systems perform just as well or better and cost less. But the C-17 Globemaster is one of the most durable, reliable and versatile transport aircraft ever built. The F-22 Raptor is the fastest and most powerful air dominance fighter ever conceived; the pride and joy of hundreds of thousands of defense workers. 

Despite the highest rates of unemployment in a generation and an admonition from Barack Obama that we must stop the bleeding of jobs in this country, the termination of these and other aviation and weapons programs will result in literally millions more unemployed workers. Fiscally sound? Socially responsible?

Obama’s vision for ridding the world of nuclear weapons is nothing more than a crack-pipe dream swimming in the ether of his muddled liberal mind. It will have the same effect as trying to rid the world of firearms; while peace-loving people put themselves at a disadvantage by disarming, rogue nations will keep their weapons.

Elimination of technology such as the Multiple-Kill Vehicle program, Ground-based Mid-Course Defense Program, the Reliable Replacement Warhead and the Airborne Laser make no sense whatsoever.

The first two programs were designed to destroy incoming enemy missiles early on, in the boost or intermediate phases of flight, but Obama is abandoning those in favor of systems that allow deeper penetration of enemy threats.

While Obama’s budget cuts cite numerous technological problems with the Airborne Laser, critical milestones have been reached. The laser has been installed and the system is scheduled for a full flight test against a ballistic missile this year. And just like with Guantanamo Bay, where Obama put the cart before the horse, although he acknowledged no suitable alternatives for nuclear waste disposal, he is closing the Yucca Mountain Repository.

Notwithstanding all of the above cuts to vital weapons systems, Mr. Obama is also cutting recruitment and retention bonuses by $1 billion. While campaigning as a candidate on the knuckle-head idea to give full, increased G.I. Bill benefits to service members who complete less than half their enlistment, he’s cutting the very benefits designed to retain qualified soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines with combat experience. While he claims the cuts to retention bonuses are because we’ve met end-strength goals, his 2010 budget simultaneously expands the size of the Army and Marines, leaving one to wonder what the truth is.

True to form, as I predicted, Obama is drastically cutting military weapons platforms. The preponderance of the evidence; the nature of the cuts and Obama’s justification for them suggests that he isn’t saving anything, but rather dishonestly engaging in his own shell game; taking money for defense and redirecting it towards health care and education. That may be OK in flush times, if it was just money he was cutting, but deliberately putting millions of aerospace workers on the unemployment lines during a recession is not.

Obama gave billions in stimulus money to many wasteful and non-vital programs, so it’s pretty hard (and highly hypocritical) for Obama to try and defend his own contribution to rising unemployment by cutting less than one half of one percent of his overall spending.  The stark truth is that these cuts will leave us more vulnerable to our enemies and may actually result in more economic pain.

Wouldn’t that be ironic?

Technorati Tags: 2009 us budget, Airborne Laser, Barack Obama, C-17 globemaster, CG-X, CSAR-X helicopter, CVN-79, economic recession, F-22 Raptor, Future Combat Systems, Multiple Kill Vehicle, US economy, US military, USMC LPD, VH-71 Presidential Helicopter