By 2011, 100 of 120 Billion will be freed up from Iraq.

He will reform the way Military contracts are awarded saving billions for the tax payers.

He will improve alliances, allowing Europe, Japan, and others to patrol their own areas of the world instead of the imperialist "world police force".

His energy programs will save money in the long run and make the US Military more independent.

The military will become more able to achieve the diplomatic goals that today's military actions demand through a focus on technological and language education. This will save money by decreasing the physical fighting. "The Hearts and Minds" strategy is possible under Obama.

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Economist say the higher spending and taxes is what the economy needs right now. When consumer demand and business investment go down, while property and financial investments are lower, the economy gets stuck. These are the times when you need massive government spending to jump start the economy. The New Deal wasn't wrong, it wasn't enough. If you look at Europe in the great depression, the reason why they pull out earlier because their governments spent a lot more. The dragging US economy of that time was partly the cause for the rise of Hitler, as the German exports lacked a major market.

Tax cuts only work when taxes are high (they're not), when financial markets are stable, and consumer confidence is high. In a situation like this, you could cut people checks or lower their taxes and they will either a) pay bills or b) save it.

lol, he is a guy who holds an office, he is not the second coming. He can't do all that.

He does however, have the opportunity to try. Let's see how he does.

Thanks Steven. Dam that's a lot of info, but it helped. I've been to his site before, but you gave an easy summary. It's good to know I have a decent future-boss ahead. I support Afghanistan though. If we pull out of Iraq soon, we should do a re-focus over there and finish what we started. The technology and resource boost for the military is nice as well.

I can't wait to see the F-35's in action as well as the new Ford-class carriers.

^ Yes, those are impressive units, but I am most excited for the new Zumwalt destroyers.

 I completely disagree with this in our military capability sense. The manpower issue, is well another issue. I mean I don't think it's about increasing home defense per se, rather making better strategic decisions. Just look up our military hardware and capabilities, (I know a lot is abroad right now), but no nation would be insane enough to attack us without fear of massive retaliation as nukes are never off the table.  If anything, any attack that would happen would be some form of terrorism, which I think is overhyped (I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I just think we would have seen small scal attacks or fertilizer[forgot the chemical] based bombs, or something since 9/11 if the terrorists were as organized as described) but that can only be minimized not entirely eradicated without drastic measures on freedoms.

If you're refering to his plan, I agree, he won't get it all done.

If your refering to my comments on the second page, I don't think that is very much to accomplish.  If he leads congress instead of letting them lead him, it's all possible and fairly easy to implement the short term ones.  Those Democrats in congress owe the economic downturn but they also owe Obama for giving Democrats a steady unified message to run on.

Wow, you're not kidding.  I just saw an artist interpretation of those beasts!  I read that they are only planning on building 3 for now.  I hope they build more than just that.  Having an entire fleet of those, some subs and a Ford-Class all in the same battle-group will certainly be intimidating for any country :D

From a military standpoint Obama will need to make many tough decisions. Not only is there a need for restructuring and modernization, but there are two wars being fought as well as plenty of hot spots.

Over the next couple of years the US will be withdrawing from Iraq while at the same time reinforcing their troops in Afghanistan. It would seem to be in America's interest to mend fences with Russia while also handling the rise of China.

Will be interesting to see if the US decides to be more diplomatic because we've seen what happens with a "you're with us or against us" mentality.

It won't take very long to see if Obama is the leader the US needs right now.

Think of it this way, if we had gone into Iraq and Afghanistan with thousands instead of dozens of translators and the state department, then we would have saved billions of dollars. We knew we had to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis and Afghans, and Bush tried to do it with guns... that's not very smart or well thought out. Obama is the most "well thought out" person I've ever seen; I don't think anyone could argue against that reasonably, say whatever else you will.

I hope Obama would have had a better plan then you.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-05-21-translator-deaths_x.htm

"It's one of the most dangerous civilian jobs in one of the world's most dangerous countries: translating Arabic for the U.S. military in Iraq.

One by one, little noticed in the daily mayhem, dozens of interpreters have been killed — mostly Iraqis but 12 Americans, too. They account for 40% of the 300-plus death claims filed by private contractors with the U.S. Labor Department."

That's 120 dead, I guess that's not enough for you?

But that's the past. Unless Obama can travel back in time, it has no baring on what he will do.

EDIT: Oh, and by the way, from that same article:

More than 4,000 translators work for San Diego, Calif.-based Titan, which supplies the U.S. military with Arabic- and Kurdish-speaking linguists.

So I guess you think Bush is as smart and as well thought out as Obama, being he did go into Iraq and Afghanistan with thousands?