operation and the base budget. it s 3%. $18 billion. has the president got the balance right here between defense spending and the diplomatic portion of the federal budget which he s planning on making cuts to? that s the challenge that he and his budget people are going to have to work through. at this point from her perspective, i think speak only for myself, from a national security perspective, this $18 billion is the right thing. if he has to go forward and pick and choose among a variety of programs within what we call a discretionary budget, that s going to be the hard decision that he can discuss, but at the end of the day the discussion will have to be made by congress. the question is does this president understand the value of that kind of diplomacy and what soft power, that s the question. having spent a little bit of time overseas in some conflicted situations, the combination of