ABSTRACT
The political tsunami that washed over the defense area was the partisan debate over budget deficit reduction that swept through Washington and became the lightning rod for the very basic differences that divided Democrats
and Republicans and that promised to become the major centerpiece of the 2012 election campaign. The flashpoint of this flood of concern was the large budget deficits that began during the Bush administration and were accelerated by the Obama response to the “great recession of 2008,” and all political factions agreed (more or less enthusiastically) that reducing the deficit was the major priority of the political system, a sentiment with which a majority of the public concurred. The politicians and the public were not, of course, in such basic agreement on the best ways to accomplish this reduction.
