When Is It Ever Enough?

Despite Obama's already too-deep cuts in America's defense capabilities, guess what? Democrats don't think it's enough:

With the announcement by Secretary Gates yesterday of significant cuts to key defense programs, you would think that liberals would be celebrating. Surprisingly, some think that Gates didn’t go far enough. The lead article in today’s “Progress Report” put out by the Center for American Progress (CAP) describes the defense budget as “bloated” and includes a section titled “Could Have Gone Further.”

Today’s Politico reports that Rep. Barney Frank “estimates he could whack another $60 billion from Defense using a list pitched by Larry Korb of the Center for American Progress that takes aim at weapons systems such as Virginia-class submarines and the Missile Defense Agency’s entire budget of about $10 billion.” Submarines and missile defense -- who needs them?

Rep. John McHugh, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, seems to grasp this concerning strategic shift at the Pentagon and made his concerns known in his statement yesterday after Gates’ announcement:

“Secretary Gates’ statement includes significant programmatic decisions that seem to be based on assumptions about the current security environment. The Congress needs to ensure it understands and agrees with these assumptions about the threat we face before we can endorse decisions on the capabilities our military does and does not require.”

Let’s hope that as the budget details are reviewed by Congress next month, members of Congress force the administration to justify this shift in strategic thinking. Otherwise, CAP and other organizations on the left will fill the void and we’ll be left with a military that’s ready to fight the wars of the last decade rather than the next century.

If it were up to liberals and Democrats, we'd be keeping America secure with a popgun and some duct tape. Of course, popguns are pretty provocative, so maybe that would be overdoing it, too.

This is why they should never be allowed to be responsible for America's national security. Unfortunately, they now are. I just hope no Americans have to die because of their cuts before a grown-up is back in charge.

There's my two cents.