During last month’s State of the Union address, President Obama announced a three-year freeze on America’s “non-security discretionary spending” to help bring down the inflated national debt brought about by the country’s response to the financial crisis, 8 years of Bush tax cuts and foreign wars.

This move, similar to most of Obama’s fiscal policies, was met with skepticism because it only amounts to around a fifth of the country’s annual budget. The critics are right that this doesn’t do much in terms of debt reduction. But perhaps the answer is simple and necessary: reduce defense spending. God forbid the question should be posed. After all, it is America’s untouchable.

Recently Obama put forward his budget for the next fiscal year and defense spending weighs in at higher than ever before: $708 billion.

No, you’re eyes are not failing you. Obama is spending more on defense than George Bush; more than Ronald Reagan at the height of the Cold War. This president was supposed to be the pragmatic president; the one who favours diplomacy over war; multilateralism over going it alone. Those seemed to be the conditions to no longer require a global police force and war machine, right?

Obama has beefed up the war in Afghanistan and is pursuing terrorists in Pakistan more vigorously than ever using drone air strikes. This, from the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Meanwhile, the American national debt is more than 1.3 trillion and unemployment is hovering around 10%; health care reform hasn’t gone through and many believe it will simply fade away.

Wow, what a difference a year makes.