Let's hope the Obama administration this week delayed its deadline for picking the next generation of Air Force tankers for good reason, as claimed -- not as a cave-in to those who want U.S. taxpayers to fund European jobs.
To kowtow to Europe's EADS and their mostly Republican U.S. allies for the wrong reasons would only hurt the U.S. economy and encourage scandalous conduct that's been occurring on both sides of the nearly decade-long EADS rivalry with Boeing over tanker contracts.
Talks this week between President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy resulted in a Pentagon announcement March 31 that it would delay its deadline for bids 60 days until July 9 if desired by EADS, the acronym for European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.
Obama said during a joint press conference March 30 in Washington that he promised Sarkozy that Defense Department decision-making would be "free and fair" because the U.S. wants to hold a transparent bidding process.
The contract's value officially is estimated at $35 billion, one of the largest in American history. But the value could be vastly higher because the contract winner gets vital momentum for similar deals with other nations around the world.
Political, financial and military leaders of five world powers are active at their highest levels. In addition to France's leader, Russia's Vladimir Putin, Germany's Angela Merkel and the United Kingdom's Gordon Brown are also interested in securing jobs from the U.S. contracts.
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