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Dem platform argues for some defense cuts
The Democratic platform argues for the necessity of defense cuts enacted in the Budget Control Act, in one of the relatively few clear policy breaks with Republicans on defense issues.
The Republican platform criticized President Obama for reducing the defense budget by $487 billion over the next decade, and for the potential of an additional $500 billion cut through sequestration.
The GOP criticizes Obama for his willingness to cut the military in the face of growing threats, as part of a broader attack Republicans are leveling accusing the president of “leading from behind” on national defense issues.
But the Democrats argue that in the current fiscal environment, tough budget decisions must be made, including with regard to the defense budget.
“The administration has worked with Congress to make these decisions, which has been a strategy-driven process,” the platform says. "As we look beyond the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — and the conclusion of long-term nation-building with large military footprints — we will be able to ensure our security with a more agile and more flexible force.”
The Democratic platform does not mention sequestration — the $500 billion across-the-board cuts that would hit both defense and non-defense spending — while the Republicans devote a plank to it.
The two platforms run along the same lines of the yearlong debate over defense spending, including attempts by both parties to blame the other for the looming sequester cuts.
Democrats also included further reductions of the U.S. nuclear stockpile as a plank of the platform, which clashes with the Republican plank criticizing the New START treaty with Russia and the Obama administration for not modernizing its nuclear weapons.
On foreign policy issues, Democrats said the GOP has a “Cold War mentality,” and accused Mitt Romney of not taking a clear position on the Afghan war. The Democrats also said the United States is "safer" now that Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda terrorists have been killed, a word that wasn't included in the GOP national security section.
Democrats also tout the end of the war in Iraq and the drawdown in Afghanistan, including the 33,000 surge troops coming out this year and the 2014 date for the United States hand off security control to the Afghans.
