From the Mark Levin show. If you enjoyed this afternoon’s appetizer, wait until you dig into the main course. It’s 15 minutes long but every second is enjoyable, I promise. One thing neither Ryan nor I can figure out: Why on earth would The One invite him to attend a speech that was designed to demagogue Ryan for electoral purposes? Was that some sort of “if I’m going to kneecap this guy, I ought to at least look him in the eye” concession on Obama’s part? Or did he just think it’d be funny to see the look on Ryan’s face while he was accusing him of rifling through the pockets of handicapped children? The ways of The One are mysterious to mere mortals, my friends.

Speaking of being kneecapped, Robert Gates found out only yesterday that one of the big “ideas” in Obama’s framework of an outline of a plan was to squeeze defense for extra savings. The surreal result was the Pentagon issuing a statement this afternoon warning that the Commander-in-Chief’s phony austerity program could do real damage if it was a real policy and not a cynical election gambit:

Minutes after Obama announced his austerity plan, the Pentagon renewed those concerns even as Gates endorsed Obama’s commitment to a thorough review before making any cuts…

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said Gates “has been clear that further significant defense cuts cannot be accomplished without reducing force structure and military capability.”

The Pentagon said Gates was not informed of Obama’s decision on budget cuts until Tuesday. Morrell said the issue would not affect the timing of Gates’ expected retirement…

“The secretary believes that this process must be about managing risk associated with future threats and national security challenges and identifying missions that the country is willing to have the military forgo,” Morrell said.

Gates needs to learn that the federal government’s main business is no longer defense but insurance. Obama didn’t put it that succinctly in today’s stemwinder, but that was the upshot. In any case, good thing we haven’t added any new wars to our Iraq and Afghanistan burden or else that could be a real problem.

As further reading, dive into this short but effective Mark Knoller piece at CBS gently reminding Obama that our national debt is projected to reach $26 trillion by 2021, which makes $4 trillion in cuts over the next 12 years seem … not so serious. Oh well: Next president’s problem, I guess. Click the image to listen.