During the Clinton presidency there was a significant reduction in manpower across the armed forces as well as several rounds of BRAC. I haven’t looked up total defense spending, but I believe that may have dropped as well.
However, I see much wider and more vocal scorn for Hillary in soldiers than for Bill. This may in some cases be due to particular statements she’s made, or positions she’s held, but I believe that many cases are knee-jerk conservative dislike.
I read somewhere (Newsweek I think) that Hillary told Obama that she did not want to go through the vetting process if he wasn’t going to pick her. So in light of that, the fact that she is willing to go through it now tells me she wants the job.
All that is left now is to finish the vetting to see if there is anything really horrendous that she’s hiding that could potentially derail the Obama’s agenda.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she did want it. But we don’t know if he’s offered, as opposed to gauging her interest, and with whatever issues they have to sort through I doubt any decision has been made.
She was never going to be his Vice President, so that was a different situation. In this case it sounds like he’s at least considering her.