(IBD) Obama Pushed Sequestration And Defense Cuts - and Marines still use bayonets

[Daniel John Sobieski]

Defense Spending: Despite debate assertions, our commander in chief has in fact presided over a shrinking Navy and an Air Force with planes older than their pilots. And what's worse, he planned it that way.

When Mitt Romney accurately said that under President Obama the U.S. Navy had fewer ships than in 1917, our commander-in-chief petulantly and contemptuously responded, "Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military has changed."

As a Marine tweeted Fox News after the debate, they still use bayonets and, yes, we'll have fewer of them under the combined impact of budget cuts already under way and the mandated sequestration under the Budget Control Act.

The president also seemed unaware that the U.S. special operations teams that launched the American invasion in Afghanistan were led by three commando teams who rode in on, er, horseback.

"If we wanted to move, horses were the only way," said Master Sgt. Chris Spence, the team's communication sergeant, who serves with 5th Special Forces Group.

Yes, Mr. President, we now "have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go under water, nuclear submarines."

And, as Romney correctly stated, we will have fewer of them.

We can have the most capable ships in the world, but they can't be everywhere at once with all of them constantly at sea. Some need to be in port, getting refueled and refitted, their crews resting.

The rest have multiple commitments, such as defending the Taiwan Strait, keeping open the Strait of Hormuz, contesting Beijing in the South China Sea or helping defend Europe against ballistic missile attack after Obama scuttled missile defense based in Poland.

Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/102312-630474-obama-gutted...