Defense Cuts Coming? Gates Says "No". What Does Reality Say?

What's the future of the defense budget under the next administration. Despite numerous differences discussed on the campaign trail, both Obama and McCain have stated that they see no precipitous cuts in defense spending. However, neither have noted whether or not they might slow the growth of the budget. While this is not technically a cut, it could be construed as such during future campaign advertisements...

Gates predicts no sharp cuts in defense budgets

Under Bush, basic defense spending has risen by more than 40 percent. Including war costs, defense spending will have grown more than 60 percent under Bush, according to the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington.
Gates' remarks were in line with comments by advisers to both U.S. presidential candidates, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, who have said they do not foresee cuts in defense spending, at least in the short term.

Given the Democrats' intense dislike of all things Bush, might they attempt (in Congress) to roll back some of the Bush military spending after the election? Or is that money going to remain tagged for defense? More to the point, when Gates gives these kind of speeches, are the politicians going to wonder how much 'bang' they get for their 'buck' when factoring in the ballooning defense budget:
Gates warns of the limits of US military power

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday warned rising officers of the limits of US military power and encouraged them to be skeptical of technological solutions to complex wars.
In a speech on 'hard power' at the National Defense University, Gates also said the US military needs to strike a better balance between spending on high-tech weaponry and meeting the requirements for fighting low-tech wars in broken states.

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