i'm also deeply concerned about the united states' standing in the region. when the president drew his red line he put america's cards on the table. a leader either enforces his red lines or he becomes irrelevant. however, i'm equally concerned about the condition of a military that has been chewed up from budget cuts and years of fighting and the lack of certainty this chief and the chiefs that served with him have not had a budget in their term in this office. they do not know really what they have to spend at the end of this month going into next year. it's not a way to run an organization. we cannot keep asking the military to perform dangerous mission after mission with multiple rounds of defense cuts, including sequestration hanging over their heads. through decisiveness, clarity of purpose and leadership, the president has the power to allay many of these concerns.