Cutting the Military Budget by Only Allowing it to Grow by 4%?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/us/politics/17gates.html?ref=global-home

So one of the big criticisms of President Obama and Secretary of Defense Gates is that they are "cutting the defense budget during a time of war." That couldn't be further from the truth. They are cutting certain programs and equipment, but are allocating those funds in different places. The military budget is supposed to be 4% higher for next year than this year. I'm not a mathematician, but I'm not sure how that is cutting the budget. Gates has reccomended cutting the spending on the Air Force F-22, an obscenely expensive fighter jet that has been only used sparingly in Iraq and Afghanistan because it is unreliable. Apparently cutting the spending on the F-22 will cause people to lose jobs and Lockheed-Martin to lose money. But at the same time, Gates is increasing the American order on a cheaper more reliable fighter jet (I'm too lazy to look up the name of it) that would cause there to be more jobs created than lost to the F-22.

That is the perfect example of what Gates and the Obama Administration are doing. Looking at doing things outside of the box, shifting priorities to what works and not what is fanciest. It may not be the most popular way to go about business, but in times of turmoil, it seems like the type of leadership our country needs. It is ashame that it took Bush so long to find Gates, he seems to be a really smart leader with the best interests of our country at heart.