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100 Days of Obama-Biden-Reid-Pelosi by The Editors on National Review Online

Here’s what we might expect from the first 100 days of an Obama administration.

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Obama's Pentagon - HUMAN EVENTS

Senator Obama promises to refocus military capabilities on stability and counterinsurgency but that’s already a Pentagon priority outlined in the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review. The junior senator from Illinois promises to build partnerships abroad but that too is a top Bush priority and his Pentagon is already transforming America’s security cooperation efforts.

What concerns many observers are Obama’s spending priorities. He has promised to “cut tens of billions” in “wasteful spending” and “investments in unproven missile defense systems.” It’s not clear, however, whether he intends to replace the military’s critical war ravaged equipment.

Obama is being pressured to make deep defense cuts. House liberals and Obama constituencies like the Black Leadership Forum have argued that cutting defense programs “… would free up $1 trillion in the federal budget.” Cutting such programs will be difficult, however, because the defense budget is the most politically contentious in the federal government...

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The Hill's Blog Briefing Room » Frank Calls for Major Defense Cuts, 'Eventual' Tax Hike

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Democrats will push for a stimulus package after the November election, and called for a package reducing defense spending by 25 percent while saying Congress will "eventually" raise taxes.

Power Line - Dennis Ross' growth opportunity

If Barack Obama is elected president next week, he will likely appoint Dennis Ross to a high level foreign policy-making position. That move will be treated by the MSM as a sign that Obama is a "moderate" on foreign policy and a friend of Israel. Indeed, the fact that the MSM will report it this way is a key reason why Ross, in all likelihood, is in line for an important spot.

There's considerable irony here because no figure in American history has caused more harm to Israel than Dennis Ross. For something like ten years, Ross dedicated himself, and U.S. foreign policy, to the proposition that Arafat was a true potential "peace partner" for Israel. This was always an implausible proposition, and only a fool could have believed it for a decade. Unfortunately, as Noah Pollak says, the result of Ross' foolishness was "a four-year Palestinian terror onslaught."

That Ross hasn't learned anything is clear from this interview with Haaretz. It turns out that he is now prepared to apply his failed vision to Iran...

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The Spectator

The impact of the financial crisis on the American presidential election has somewhat obscured the most important reason why the prospect of an Obama presidency is giving so many people nightmares. This is the fear that, if he wins, US defences will be emasculated at a time of unprecedented international peril and the enemies of America and the free world will seize their opportunity to destroy the west.

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