BACKWARDS IN TIME - AT 11:27 A.M. ET:  Reader Joseph J. Gallick alerts us to something that should be a national scandal, but won't be because most of the media isn't interested.  The Wall Street Journal is:

Never has Ronald Reagan's dream of layered missile defenses—Star Wars, for short—been as politically out of favor as in the Age of Obama. Nor as close, at least technologically, to becoming realized.

The latest encouraging news came Thursday courtesy of the Misssile Defense Agency. The Airborne Laser prototype aircraft this week found, tracked, engaged and simulated an intercept with a missile seconds after liftoff. It was the first time the Agency used an "instrumented" missile to confirm the laser works as expected. Next up this fall will be the first live attempt to bring down a ballistic missile, but this test confirms how far along this innovative effort has come.

And the tragedy...

Yet the Obama Administration isn't buying it. Funding for missile defense was cut in the 2010 budget by some 15%—$1.2 billion to $1.6 billion, depending on how you calculate it...As the Administration keeps defense spending growth flat, while breaking the bank on its domestic priorities, Secretary Gates has to make hard choices. But he might try harder to convince his boss at the White House that Star Wars isn't a sci-fi fantasy. That's what critics used to say about stealth aircraft as well.

COMMENT:  Although the administration has authorized a modest increase in ground forces, its overall commitment to national defense seems as weak as Bill Clinton's, who famously refused to have regular meetings with his CIA director.

This is a leftist administration, bolstered by the leftist base of the House Democrats.  Visionary defense systems just aren't their thing.  I hope we don't pay a terrible price for this down the road, but I fear we may.

August 15, 2009