The current admin is trying to reestablish military aid to Indonesia, despite their horrible human rights record, defending detention without trial, and is continuing to not only excuse but cover-up for those who tortured and murdered prisoners.

"President Obama will call for a three year freeze in spending on many domestic programs, and for increases no greater than inflation after that...But it would exempt security related budgets for the Pentagon, foreign aid, the VA and homeland security"

Do you read ANYTHING other than propaganda from OFA?

Go back to jiggling your pom-poms, sweetie.

SOPHIA - not WE as in the current admin sweetie!

Typical talking head, spouting un proven facts and talking points! "freeze spending on everything but the military??? are you serious?

Part of the reason "the rest of the world hates us" is because we launch unnecessary wars and give military aid to atrocious regimes.

@The The Truth from Becky

Typical Obama cheerleader. No facts known or needed

The health insurance plan was closest to the Republican plan from the 90's and Romney care

The Energy plan brings back nuclear power and off-shore drilling. Hope and Change! If you live in 1952

His big plan for the deficit is to freeze spending on evertything but the military and figuring out a way to cut Social Security.

Corporate America chose well in choosing a more palatable face for selling their same old crap.

We cannot downsize on the military spending, the rest of the world hates us too much!

@Jack - The pattern of history is that countries that spend enormous percentages of their GDP on defense don't do very well. Rome, Britain, Germany, Japan -- all suffered severe declines with their gross military expenditures. Germany and Japan spent hugely and then, of course, lost wars. Thereafter, they drastically *reduced* their military spending and for a while, the two were the most successful economies in the world.

The US is slowly eating itself with these absurd over-expenditures on the military.

Considering that we are in such a dynamic political world, it would be folly to muse that nation states are able to have "long term " plans to move , conquer or maintain any sort of hegemony. This is a very independent and power equalized world we live in. Governments and policies change and shift and so do national interests.

Just think, If we had monitored and hounded bush this closely we would not be in this current war or economic position.

The bush admin never did find bin laden did they?

Hugh is correct: When choosing between guns and butter in the USA, guns will always win since the military industrial complex has its roots in many voting districts, provide huge amounts of jobs, and employ crackerjack lobbyists.

How effectively can defense spending possibly stimulate the economy? I think economists (moderate and liberal ones anyway) would dispute this.

Military spending for new machinery, etc., does maintain jobs, but it does not produce a good that any person, in the US or elsewhere, can buy. The only buyer is the US. So it pumps money into the economy with one hand and then takes it back out with the other (in taxes that are needed to buy these goods).

It would be vastly more efficient, from an economic standpoint, to put that money directly into healthcare, education, roads, water, etc.

How much is our military might linked to our economic power? How much does the military contribute to the dollar's reserve currency status which allows us to live beyond our means?

Obama is certainly a centrist no matter what the right-wing, America-right-or-wrong, neo-conservative say through their propaganda. That this rhetoric has any legs shows how far right (probably wrong) the political discussion in America is concerned.

For better or worse, Obama is their "war" president, continuing to forward the USA's sphere of influence through the supremacy of its belligerent forces. Unfortunately, the USA being on constant war footing seems like the status quo and, for now, inescapable.

Surely among the reasons that nobody in Congress questions the military budget are that the Pentagon and military contractors have (1) been extraordinarily good at lobbying Congress and (2) been even better at distributing jobs across every Congressional district.

Sophia, you are delusional and disrespectful to the President to boot.

Yeah that's about is equal to the bush's 3 wars!

I don't know how it could be any clearer that Obama is a crypto-croporate-Republican who scammed his way through the primaries.

His health insurance, energy, miltary and (coming soon!) Social Security Plan are all Republican plans which democrats would have fought if Obama were not masquerading as one of them.