President Obama Engages In Unnecessary Attack On U.S. Navy

In last night’s debate, Governor Romney accurately pointed out that our Navy now has fewer ships than it has since 1916. President Obama incorrectly implied that Governor Romney was not aware of what a modern military force looks like. In his response, President Obama stated that, “You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916 well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets.”

“When I was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1988 we had 565 ships - and today we are down to 287,” said Rep. Andy Harris. “As a retired naval officer, President Obama’s denigration of the U.S. Navy by comparing warships to horses is offensive. It is clear that as China rapidly develops a blue water navy, President Obama’s lack of foreign policy leadership has placed Americans in a position of weakness – an always dangerous position. With our enemies looking for any sign that American resolve is faltering, to suggest that the world is safer today than in 1988 demonstrates an extremely naive worldview that places all Americans at risk. We can no longer afford President Obama’s failed foreign policies and economic ideas that keep us from affording the Navy we need to compete in the modern world.”

In addition to not understanding the role of the Navy, it seems that the President does not understand what weapons our military actually uses. As Chuck Todd of MSNBC pointed out today, “a quick search of the Marine Corps website shows bayonets among the weapons actively used in combat.”