After the fanfare of the presidential inauguration dies down, President-elect Obama and his administration will have some tough topics to tackle: the mortgage meltdown, the unemployment rate and, eventually, the U.S. Air Force tanker contest.
In this article, The American Spectator highlights ties between Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Boeing Co., between Congress and Boeing, between Obama and EADS.
Here are a few interesting quotes:
From Mobile County Commissioner Stephen Nodine: “If Obama and his administration want to make a statement about rebuilding the Gulf Coast, and get the best plane for the job… this is the way to go to reward American ingenuity and American resolve on the Gulf Coast.”
From U.S. Rep Jo Bonner, R-Ala., on Obama: “This is the man who stood before 1 million people in Berlin. He can’t go back to Europe with all the challenges in the world and begin to build his promised partnerships but then say, by the way, we’re not going to use products that have any European connections.”
From Rep. John Murtha, who chairs the Defense Appropriations subcommittee: “The Air Force will have no choice but to split the… tanker award between rivals Boeing and Northrop Grumman-EADS if it wants to receive a new tanker anytime soon.”
Defense Secretary Gates has emphasized that he plans to make some changes in the acquisitions process to make it more efficient. Most military observers say a split buy isn’t the most effective or efficient choice.
But given the increasingly politically-charged nature of this decision, doesn’t Murtha’s suggestion of a split-buy make sense?
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