Mitt Romney supports a strong national defense and an America leadership role. His administration will bolster essential readiness and modernization programs, and he will not falter in the war on terror. In sharp contrast to the Obama White House, Romney will not apologize for the United States, and his administration will not reveal key national security secrets to the news media for political gain.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says: “If America is going to rebuild its strength at home, rebuild its sense of who we are, it needs a leader that also understands how really exceptional the United States of America is, and is not afraid to lead on the basis of that exceptionalism. The only thing that people dislike more than unilateral American leadership is no American leadership at all. . . American leadership is craved in this world, and Governor Romney can bring it back.”
Romney will be our next President but he will need considerable help in enacting his national security programs. Romney will slash the deficit but he will enhance our security.
He says “core defense spending will never fall below “a floor of 4 percent of GDP.” The pace of shipbuilding will also be accelerated to “increase the naval shipbuilding rate from nine to 15 per year,” and no carriers will be mothballed.
Romney is correct in calling the Obama budget “reckless” and says “We have a military inventory composed of weapons designed 40 to 50 years ago. The average age of our tanker aircraft is 47 years, of strategic bombers 34 years. Our Air Force, which had 82 fighter squadrons at the end of the Cold War, has been reduced to 39 today. The U.S. Navy, at 285 ships, is at levels not seen since 1916.
“Should our air, naval and ground forces continue to age and shrink, it will place the interests of the U.S. and our friends and allies at risk. With the United States on a path to a hollow military, we are hardly in a position to exercise leadership in persuading our allies to spend more on security. And in fact the Obama administration has failed to exercise such leadership.”
This is a crucial election and Romney understands what is at stake:
“There have been inflection points in American history where the course of the nation has changed. Where culture, industry, and even military strategy has changed.
“America is going to decide whether we will put ourselves on a path toward Europe. Will we become another nation dominated by government, where citizens are dependent on government for the things they want in life, where opportunity is sacrificed, where military strength is depleted to pay for government promises, where unemployment is chronically high and wage growth chronically low.
“That, in my view, is the course the President has put us upon. If Barack Obama is re-elected, it will be very difficult to get off that path. If I’m elected, I will usher in a period of economic vitality, that will leave the world surprised.”
Republican Security Council 