Obama, Gates Propose 4% Increase in Defense Spending

Contrary to the way it is being portrayed by many media outlets and blogs, the Obama administration has put forth a plan that increases overall defense spending by 4% for next year. Over at TPM, Josh Marshall and crew have been monitoring the media meme, stoked by such GOP luminaries as Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich, that Obama's priorities may be making the country less safe. Here's an exchange between MSNBC and former Defense Secretary William Cohen, who tries to set the record straight:



One might reasonably speculate whether ending extraordinary rendition, and returning to the Geneva Conventions (and Army Field Manual guidelines for interrogation) are making the country more vulnerable to terrorist attacks (though even another terrorist attack would not necessarily prove this point), but we should dispense with idea that the president and our current Secretary of Defense are cutting military spending. They aren't. Gates has proposed a shift in priorities, just as Donald Rumsfeld did under Bush.

More on the Obama/Gates priorities can be read here.