Fareed Zakaria on Robert Gates

Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria comments on Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' new military budget proposal.

Genius might be a bit much as a description of the secretary of defense, but Robert Gates's budget proposal has certainly gathered all the right opponents. There are the defense contractors, worried that decades of fraudulent accounting are coming to a halt; the Beltway consultants for whom the war on terror has been a bonanza; the armed services, which have gotten used to having every fantasy funded; and the congressmen who protect all this institutionalized corruption just to make sure they keep jobs in their state.

If you're wondering where to come down on the Gates plan, here's a simple guide: John McCain, the most thoughtful, reform-minded legislator on military issues, "strongly supports" it. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe—who has compared the EPA to the Gestapo, Carol Browner to Tokyo Rose and environmentalists to the Third Reich—warns that it will lead to the "disarming of America." You choose.

Retaining Gates, a Republican, as Secretary of Defense was a shrewd way for President Obama to show his appreciation for competence over partisanship. Like Zakaria, I only wish Gates had gone further in eliminating costly and obsolete military expenditures.

--Ballard Burgher