In this campaign video, Obama commits to cutting wasteful military spending, slowing down the rate of military research and development, and halting progress on the missile defense shield.  And all for good reason; in 2005, the United States’ total military expenditures were greater than the next 168 biggest spenders combined, and eight times greater than the total budget of China.

A fairly large portion of our research and development is dedicated towards weapons systems (F-35 Strike Fighter, F-22 Raptor) which - barring a massive land and air war with China or Russia - are wholly unnecessary.  And ignoring the still-present technological difficulties,  missile defense  is a terrible idea for various theoretical and practical reasons (deterrence is still astonishingly effective).

But above all, regardless of how much we cut the military budget (which realistically, would be a phased cut over the period of a decade), the United States will maintain - for the foreseeable future - absolute military superiority over the rest of the world.   Example:

The 21st century United States Navy maintains a sizable presence in the world, deploying in such areas as East Asia, Southern Europe, and the Middle East. Its ability to project force onto the littoral regions of the world, engage in forward areas during peacetime, and rapidly respond to regional crises makes it an active player in American foreign and defense policy. The United States Navy is the largest in the world with a tonnage greater than that of the next 17 largest combined and has a budget of $127.3 billion for the 2007 fiscal year.  The US Navy also possesses the world’s largest carrier fleet, with 11 carriers in service and 2 under construction. 

To put that into a bit of perspective, the United States could take on every single navy in the world, and win. 

And, if you needed any more evidence of our overwhelming military supremacy, I will point you in the direction of our massive nuclear stockpile, capable of wiping out the entire planet.

*Takes breath*

That said, Gaius’ reaction to Obama’s video is more than a little silly:

Obama is willing to essentially disarm the United States or so cripple its defenses that I am left without adequate words to describe how this makes me feel.

What Gaius doesn’t seem to understand is that military spending does not equal military power.  The strength of our armed forces is in all likeliness, weakly correlated to the amount of money we pump into them.  If Obama were to cut total military spending by $100 billion (which is an unrealistic estimate, to be honest), overall readiness would probably remain stable. 

If there’s anything to be concerned about, it’s the impact the Iraq War is having on our armed forces.  According to a number of officials and analysts, because of the Iraq War, the United States military could not effectively respond to a new conventional threat.

Since I sense that Gaius is genuinely concerned with the state of our nation’s armed forces, he should probably direct his complaints towards our current civilian leadership.