Did Obama just threaten to veto any budget with defense cuts? Allahpundit fumes:
Obama’s chief goal in dealing with federal spending is to make himself look good at the expense of the GOP before next year’s election. That’s why Republicans are being forced to take the lead on entitlements, and that’s why we’re now witnessing the surreal spectacle of a liberal Democrat scolding conservatives for being insufficiently pro-Pentagon. Defending the defense budget not only earns him C-in-C points, it’s a clever way to signal to the public that the GOP’s relatively modest $100 billion in cuts is outrageously outrageous, so out comes the veto pen.
It's worse than that. Obama just said that even the Republicans' small cuts in defense would "undermine ... national security." Just to let all of you Obama voters in 2008: yes, he's arguing for a bigger military budget than the Republicans. He has moved the withdrawal date from Afghanistan to 2014 and if Petraeus asks for longer, how can we trust he won't get it?
If this is the president's attitude toward the debt crisis, made so much worse by the recession, it means this country's pressing problems have been deferred until he gets re-elected. Change? This is not just more of the same; it's far worse - and with every year, more dangerous.