Maybe they're reading AQA!

Pentagon board says cuts essential
Tells Obama to slash large weapons programs
By Bryan Bender
[Boston] Globe Staff / November 10, 2008
WASHINGTON - A senior Pentagon advisory group, in a series of bluntly worded briefings, is warning President-elect Barack Obama that the Defense Department's current budget is "not sustainable," and he must scale back or eliminate some of the military's most prized weapons programs.

The briefings were prepared by the Defense Business Board, an internal management oversight body. It contends that the nation's recent financial crisis makes it imperative that the Pentagon and Congress slash some of the nation's most costly and troubled weapons to ensure they can finance the military's most pressing priorities.

Those include rebuilding ground forces battered by multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan and expanding the ranks to wage the war on terrorism.

Wow! AQA regulars will recognize in these proposals many elements I've championed previously, as I've railed against the Pentagon's addiction to high-tech weapons systems at the expense of boots on the ground & basic support for troops.

Of course, any attempt to impose sanity on our Defense budget will be met with cries of "weak-on-national-defense" from the so-called loyal opposition. Obama will need to market this carefully.

... which brings us to a larger point:
The Dems need to communicate better than they have in the past to counter easily anticipated Republican rage. This applies not only to defense spending, but to a wide range of policy issues.

The Republicans have successfully used the "tax-and-spend liberal" tag for decades without having to worry that the Dems will formulate a consistent convincing retort.

Republicans have succeeded in making "liberal" a dirty word.

Any mention of cutting Defense spending will almost certainly meet with "weak on national security" accusations.

Me? I'm drafting a brief proposal for my Congressman-elect, suggesting that the 110th Congress freshman class could make a name for itself by drafting a clear set of principles & policies to help sell the progressive agenda - and to counter the easily anticipated Republicans attacks on any such agenda.

Have a nice day.