What’s up with Obama’s defense budget?

If you have been paying attention to news this week, the media was bumbling with GOP criticism of Obama’s defense budget “cuts.”  Sure, it is was a political heuristic that Republicans are supposedly stronger on national security and defense issues, especially after 8 years of a GOP-controlled White House heavily influenced by the neoconservative intellectual community.

That’s what enabled the GOP misinformation campaign on Obama’s defense budget.  Seeking to gain traction on any issue whatsoever, Republicans began a media blitz criticizing Obama’s defense budget, and the media pretty much ate it right up.  Until — wait — one news anchor-cum-math-whiz realized that yes, Obama’s defense budget of $533,700,000,000 is larger than Bush’s of $515,400,000,000.

Obama’s Defense Budget: $533 billion
Bush’s Defense Budget: $515 billion

That’s actually an increase of 4%.

So why all the brouhaha?  The Pentagon is changing the arms they invest in to adapt to current conditions.  For example, F22 stealth bombers have not been useful since the Cold War and have no foreseeable use in the future.  In other words, they are out-dated.  The Pentagon budget wants to decrease investments in those aircraft and instead invest in unmanned drone aircraft that can fly long ranges and survey large expanses.

Congressman Joe Sestak, who met with PennDems earlier this year, lays it all out on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

(Rep. Sestak is also the highest-ranking former military official ever elected to Congress).

Talking Points Memo has some great coverage of the issue.  And they put together a montage of the first anchors to point out the inaccuracies in the MSM reporting.

(The third “anchor” in the clip is Jon Stewart.  Yes, the comedian is a more authoritative source on this issue than most other papers and networks).