Horses and bayonets

[Agnes]

Barack Obamas flippant reponse to [Mitt Romneys] complaint during their third televised debate (October 22, 2012) that the U.S. Navy had fewer [battleships] than at any time since 1917. Obamas remark that the military has fewer horses and bayonets, too makes an analogy that measuring battleships (as opposed to [aircraft carriers]) is an archaic metric of military power, in much the same way that measuring horses and bayonets would no longer indicate an armys might. (NB: Marines are still issued bayonets.)