If Michelle Obama is pregnant, what might that mean for the defense budget?
Posted by John Keller
Okay, okay, so what if the rumors are correct that Michelle Obama is pregnant? I'm not saying it's true; I have no information on this whatsoever, but my question is, if Michelle Obama is indeed pregnant, what would that mean for the 2012 U.S. defense budget?
A new baby on the way in any family is a blessing, but it's a big distraction, too. A Congress hostile to the Obama agenda will be seated this week, the government's entire 2012 budget proposal is due out within the next couple of months, and I'm wondering how President Obama is going to juggle the nation's business with his wife's pregnancy (if the rumors of Michelle Obama's pregnancy are true, and I'm not saying that they are).
So if the rumors are true (and I'm not saying they are), Michelle Obama would give birth sometime in late July. A baby hasn't been born to a sitting president and his family since 1963, and tragically that baby born to John and Jackie Kennedy only lived two days. A baby in the White House just isn't something that happens every day.
So what might a pregnant Michelle Obama mean for next year's defense budget? I'm betting a few more things might be snuck into the budget while the president is otherwise occupied. Maybe a new Ford-class aircraft carrier, or another Virginia-class fast attack submarine.
It wouldn't be hard to figure out how such a vessel might be named, now would it?
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
