Sarah Palin Launches into President Obama's Missile Defense Cuts

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin released a statement Monday, criticizing President Obama's spending cuts for ballistic missile defense, in response to North Korea's failed rocket test:

Palin herself criticized proposed Obama administration cuts proposed to missile defense programs. "I am deeply concerned with North Korea's development and testing program which has clear potential of impacting Alaska, a sovereign state of the United States, with a potentially nuclear armed warhead," she said in the statement. "I can't emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect the global missile defense network. Alaska's strategic location and the system in place here have proven invaluable in defending the nation....

"Our early opposition to reduced funding for the Missile Defense Agency is proving to be well-founded during this turbulent time. I continue to support the development and implementation of a defensive missile shield based in Alaska. We are strategically placed to defend the critical assets of the United States and our allies in the Pacific Theater."

President Obama's position on missile defense is that we make investments wisely, in systems that have a reasonable chance of success and cost-effectiveness. That assessment is backed up by a recent Pentagon report that concluded that the current program is rife with waste and mismanagement.

While Palin is correct that North Korea's missile launch, failure though it was, does underscore the need for a missile defense system. However,it does not mean that we should throw money indiscriminately at programs that are dead ends. We need a water-powered car, too, but that's just not in the cards right now.

I suspect that Palin's grandstanding has a little something to do with her aspirations for the 2012 presidential race. Her capability to step in for John McCain as Commander-in-Chief was called into question during the campaign, despite her proximity to Russia. Her statement reads almost like a foreign head of state offering assistance to the US than that of a Governor with a policy disagreement.

North Korea's ambitions, whatever they might be, should not force the President, or this country, into a rash decision that we will likely regret. There are far more immediate, and plausible, steps to be taken.

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