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Rahm Emanual Has Become a Conservative
What could have happened to this career Democrat?
After serving three terms in the House of Representatives representing Illinois, two years as President Obama’s chief of staff and two terms as mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
In his nearly three years in office, Mr. Emanuel has learned plenty about our Pacific ally’s strengths, and he brought much of that knowledge and new wisdom to an article in the Wall Street Journal.
From his view from Tokyo, he has seen clearly that America’s military posture has declined and that it must be rebuilt soon to be able to deter the newly assertive axis of evil: China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Mr. Emanuel begins by explaining that the number of primary defense contracting firms in the United States has declined from 51 to five in thirty years, and the number of public shipyards has shrunk from 11 to four. These numbers are insufficient to build enough weapons and ships the country will need soon. Moreover, the country is also in desperate need of greater maintenance capabilities.
As always happens in Democrat administrations, the budget for the Department of Defense has shrunk over the last three years, and the weapons we’ve been providing to Ukraine and Israel are not being replaced quickly. Additionally, the essential Navy ships and military aircraft are not being built as quickly as needed.
Mr. Emanuel says that not only does the defense budget need to be expanded, but even that growth will not be enough to meet the growing threats from our adversaries. “… even more money on top of a broken system won’t suffice,” he states.
He further states, “… we must consider how trusted allies like Japan can contribute more,” and “Japanese defense firms have built a well-earned reputation for producing quality work on time and within budget.”
Emanuel has toured Japan’s manufacturing firms and concluded they are capable of building modern warships and jet fighters to American standards.
