President Obama told Mitt Romney that he was out of touch on his criticism of the current military structure, at the foreign policy debate.
“But I think Gov. Romney maybe hasn’t spent enough time looking at how our military works,” said Obama. “You mention the Navy, and how we have fewer ships than 1916. We also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military has changed. We have aircraft carriers; we have ships that go underwater; nuclear submarines.”
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“And so the question is not a game of ‘Battleship’ where we’re counting ships. It’s: What are our capabilities? So when I sit down with the Secretary of the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we determine how are we going to be best able to meet all of our defense needs in a way that also keeps faith with our troops, that makes sure our veterans have the kind of support that they need when they come home.
“And that is not reflected in the kind of budget that you’re putting forward because it just doesn’t work. We visited the website quite a bit and it still doesn’t work.”