LTJG Mabus
In trying times, you have to find your guilty pleasures where you can (and in keeping with the right spirit, of course).
Along those lines, over the last few days we have had some fun over at my home blog with the new SECNAV’s political background. Make no mistake, that is a very important skill to have, and one we all hope the SECNAV will put to very good use. However, sometimes you need to hit the rewind button, diagram and parse a sentence to get the meaning.
Heisman or fried air, you decide. One way or another, nice verbal juke.
Levin had just finished remarking about the LCS program’s cost growth. Although he did not mention that one of the first two ships had passed the $700 million mark, he questioned if the service can meet the $460 million cost cap imposed by Congress on the ships the Navy is asking for in 2010.”Is there a realistic prospect that you’ll be able to do it?” Levin asked.
“I think there’s a realistic prospect we can strive toward that goal,” replied Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who cited the lack of a cost escalation provision in the congressional spending limit on LCS, despite rising labor costs and inflation, which “have frankly made that less realistic.”
You need to go back and read that again to fully soak in the Beltway Beautiful of it all. Do you think the warhorse Sen. Levin really knew that once that was over, that from the other side of the room the SECNAV was holding the good Senator’s jock under the table?
I’m not sure what a good comeback by Sen. Levin would be, but one of my readers “Old H-2 Guy” gets about as close as you can get.
Do, or do not….there is no strive.”
(With apologies to Yoda)
Remind me not to argue with the new SECNAV face-to-face; I don’t think I have the skilz.
