In proposing to cut another $400 billion from U.S. defense budgets over the next ten years as part of his deficit reduction counter-offer, Barack Obama’s words were few. Yet they were revealing.

To begin with, he listed defense spending, along with the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid entitlements, as part of the fiscal problem. Thus he repeated the establishment mantra that “everything” the government does must be equally “on the table.” That’s appalling accounting – the unchecked growth in entitlements are already about four times more costly than defense (including war costs) and rising – and an appalling admission that the commander in chief regards that job as just one among many.