Obama: On Nuclear Issues, I'll take take my advice from Robert Gates, not Sarah Palin - Hmmm....

From Newsmax - Jan 27, 2009:

Obama, Gates Argue Over New Nuclear Weapons

President Barack Obama is at odds with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others in the military over America’s need for a new generation of nuclear warheads.

While serving as President George W. Bush’s defense secretary, Gates repeatedly spoke in favor of the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program because the country’s weapons, mostly produced in the 1970s and 1980s, are aging and their effectiveness may be in the question, Time magazine reports.

“Even though the days of hair-trigger superpower confrontation are over, as long as other nations possess the bomb and the means to deliver it, the United States must maintain a credible strategic deterrent,” Gates wrote in an article for Foreign Affairs, after Obama tapped him to remain as defense secretary.

But Obama said after taking office, as he had during the campaign, that the new administration “will stop the development of new nuclear weapons.”...

From Reuters - April 8, 2010:

President Barack Obama on Thursday made clear he was not going to take advice from Republican Sarah Palin when it comes to decisions about the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Palin, the former vice presidential candidate, has not been shy about criticizing Obama's policies and this week weighed in on his revamped nuclear strategy, saying it was like a child in a playground who says 'punch me in the face, I'm not going to retaliate.'

"I really have no response to that. The last I checked, Sarah Palin is not much of an expert on nuclear issues," Obama said in an interview with ABC News.

Pressed further on Republican criticism that his strategy restricts the use of nuclear weapons too much, Obama added:

"What I would say to them is, is that if the secretary of defense [Robert Gates] and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff are comfortable with it, I'm probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin."

Obama unveiled a new policy earlier this week that restricts U.S. use of nuclear weapons and renounces development of new atomic weapons.