Reuters Washington Extra – Panetta’s pain
Leon Panetta, famous here in Washington for being a “budget guy”, has a budget challenge at the Pentagon that few would relish. He probably doesn’t relish it either, but it could be the crowning achievement in a remarkable career if he pulls it off.
Today he fired the opening salvo in what is expected to be a long budget fight in Congress for the American military of the future – a much leaner one at that. He’s trying to wear both hats, that of the budget guy (and historic deficit hawk) and that of a custodian of a strong military.
He will be hit with accusations of not cutting enough from a Defense Department that accounts for 20 percent of federal spending. But many on Capitol Hill are already blasting him for going too far, leading America toward irreparable decline.
Normally cool and collected, there is one type of cut that clearly makes Panetta uncomfortable – base closures – something he opened the door to doing today. As a former congressman, he knows the toll they take on a community, its jobs and its income. He called the process “a son of a bitch” in November. Today, there was no such tough language, but a clear acknowledgement that pain was on the way.
Here are our top stories from Washington…
The First Draft: Preparing for a fall?
Are Democrats trying to soften the blow for President Barack Obama if the Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, Creigh Deeds, loses in the November elections?
The Washington Post thinks so. It says in a front page story that top Democrats sense that Deeds is likely to lose in the key swing state so they’re trying to distance Obama from him.
The article cites senior administration officials who are frustrated with the way Deeds has handled his campaign, saying he refused some strategic advice. They also say he did not reach out to some key constituencies that helped Obama win Virginia in the 2008 presidential race — the first time in decades that a Democrat won in that state.
A senior administration official said Deeds badly erred on several fronts, including not doing a better job of coordinating with the White House. “I understood in the beginning why there was some reluctance to run all around the state with Barack Obama,” said the official, who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity in order to speak candidly about the race. “You don’t do that in Virginia. But when you consider the African American turnout that they need, and then when you consider as well they’ve got a huge problem with surge voters, younger voters, we were just a natural for them.”
So will this prep work help shield Obama from any fallout if the Democrat does not win the Virginia governorship?
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Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama campaigns with Deeds)
Panetta, is offering to cut $500 billion over 10 years. Using second grade mathematics, that drops military spend by $50 billion per year. That’s not enough. Look at pre-Iraq levels, we should be below that number ($300 billion / year) if we want our military spend to be anywhere close to what other countries spend. Panetta just insulted us with his offer to “cut” military spending. If he had offered $4 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years then we would be in the right ballpark.