It's just that I'm really curious. What does everyone think of this? Obviousy, I love the "opposing the Iraq war" stuff, but the laundry list he follows it with...it just doesn't seem like he should be saying all that. I was actually looking for where the lips might not match the words in hope of the clip being fake. I mean...everybody wants a non-nuclear world, obviously. But work towards it once your in office, with a very experienced cabinet, maybe behind the scenes, in baby steps. Don't be putting out videos that 1) concern some of your followers, and 2) Republicans will have a field day with.
Am I overthinking this?
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I am a life long Republican, I live in the D.C. area, and I am a contractor who's business base is in the DOD arena. I am not concerned by his list. I believe that Missile Defense and Future Combat Systems should be developed, but at a slower, more fiscally responsible pace. Those savings can then be used in a more responsible manner, including non-Defense or deficit reduction purposes.
Overthinking? You are underthinking. Why is it wrong to want to make big strides to peace rather than baby steps. Giant steps to war didn't work too well.
We spend more on our military than the rest of the world combined. Far too little of that budget is spending on, you know, health care for our soldiers and stuff, and far too much of it is weapons systems for an enemy that no longer exists -- the Soviet Union. It's nothing but corporate welfare for Lockheed-Martin and other defense contractors. There are a few programs like unmanned aerial vehicles that have some use, but a lot could be scrapped with zero risk to national security.
It's really not that bold a statement to talk about scaling back nuclear weapons. We signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act in the 80's and it ended up being not much more than nice talk. Not only have we ignored Pakistan producing working nuclear weapons since then but there's been serious discussion for upgrading of old ICBMs and building new weapons. So having an agenda for scaling back nuclear weapons is old business we've never followed up on (neither has Russia, to be fair).
That being said I don't agree with a lot of Obama's politics, but that's one thing I wouldn't criticize him for. The average citizen doesn't pay much attention to how much money is poured into defense systems that never see the light of day (or even work in a lot of cases), but it would certainly go a long way towards deficit reduction to reform Pentagon/DOD spending as far as defense contracts go. It's a wasteful process with no auditing.
Thanks everyone for the thoughtful responses. I guess my biggest concern with the clip is when Obama says things like "Slow our development of new defense systems", especially when there are nuclear countries in the world like Pakistan that appear to be getting more unstable, and Russia looking more and more like the KGB-controlled country of old. I'm all our defense contractors not making bazillions anymore, but isn't keeping our defense systems up to date in our best interests?
Yeah. Well, Ron Paul opposed the war, for the record.
And when Obama says stuff like he's going to end nuclear weapons, it makes him sound stupid. You can't UNinvent something. The cat is out of the bag.
Ron Paul might have had a chance if he didn't say similarly stupid things like "I'll get rid of the IRS."
Also, whether he's right or not (he might be), I get your point... the right is going to have a field day with the defense reduction comments.
Wait - doesn't that window frame behind him look an awful lot like a cross?
It is important for Obama to point out that he is different from Hillary Clinton. His statements above represent a school of thought that is intent on breaking with the past, and the silly rules that sometimes dominate international policy. He presents an alternative to the aggressive policies of neocons without sounding like a hippie (no offense to the hippies out there).