I have mixed feelings about President Trump signing off the latest omnibus budget bill.  Should he have vetoed the bill?  Part of me thinks so.  True, the Republicans should have stood up and forced the Democrats to offer a more balanced bill, but Democrats – and I'm a lifelong Democrat – simply don't understand the concept of compromise.  When we offer a compromise, what we really mean is "do you agree with me or not?"  We've never really the embraced the concept of quid pro quo, although we do believe in taking as much as we can, and everyone else be damned. 

As far as the Republicans are concerned, the first thing they need is a backbone.  Sadly, I don't think they've evolved beyond a primitive notochord, which keeps tunicates upright. 

The other part of me is glad Trump signed because of the funding it provides to the military.  I've worked for the Navy all my life – still do.  I've never seen the military in such substandard shape as it was under President Obama.  I don't know if he deliberately tried to wreck it or just didn't care, but he did a good job running it into the ground.

Several years ago, I had to work on a submarine in dry dock.  Dry docks are complex structures in their own right.  Personnel still get aboard using a gangway, but everything else is moved by crane.  There are usually several cranes available to support a boat, including a gantry.  There is also an elevator to move personnel and equipment to and from the bottom of the dock. 

So I arrive to work on this submarine, and neither the cranes nor the elevator is working.  Dry dock personnel were cannibalizing the cranes just to get one functioning.  Rickover must be spinning in his grave.

To me, this was a sign of how material support had degraded so much during President Obama's reign.  And his decision to replace regular troops in combat situations with Special Forces?  What could be more indicative of a weakened military than this?

In the last year, when President Trump has proclaimed that we have the greatest military in the world, I've always been uncomfortable, because that's long gone.  Maybe that will change now.  As much as I wish he had vetoed the bill, if he can restore the military, then he still has my vote.