Cheney & Obama

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and President Barack Obama today both gave foreign policy speeches. Cheney spoke, in essence, to explain as well as defend the measures taken by the Bush Administration to keep America safe from attack post 9/11. President Obama spoke about the direction he plans to take our foreign policy. He also reflected on the Bush Administration.

President Obama said in his address that the United States "went off course" during the Bush Administration and called the approach by Bush "neither effective nor sustainable." As an American, not as a Republican or a conservative, I take offense to such a statement. Obama's predecessor is much maligned for many reasons but the effectiveness of his policies designed to keep America safe, whether you agree with them or not, were very effective. To say that his policies were effective is a 100% truth - this nation has not been attacked since 9/11. For our President to play political and rhetorical games with the success of the Bush policies is irresponsible. President Obama, with that one line, misled the American people. I choose the term "misled" instead of saying "lied to" because I'm a generous person.

For a man who campaigned on a political "Third Way" that focused on transcending politics and focused on results, how can President Obama condemn what the Bush Administration accomplished? Bush policy was 100% effective preventing terrorist attacks in the United States. The results don't get any better and yet Obama has criticized the means which President Bush used to acheive his end. that doesn't sound very "Third Way" to me.

President Obama also hinted in his speech that the Bush Administrations actions did not comply the the ideals set out in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. I wonder where in either of those documents President Obama finds the right to break ironclad contracts the way that his administration has in the restructuring of Chrysler where creditors, whose contracts explicitly stated that they had first dibs should Chrysler file for bankruptcy, were pushed behind the government and the UAW in line?

In an interesting twist, favorability ratings have risen for both President Bush and Vice President Cheney since January. Bush's ratings have risen 6 points while Cheney's have risen 8 points. Perhaps Cheneys challenges of Obama policy are making sense to voters. Or perhaps the favorability ratings are rising because the media is not constantly criticizing Bush, echoing the Obama campaign message.

If foreign policy issues continue to be all the rage, Republicans may be in better shape to pick up seats in the midterm elections than Democrats are willing to admit. It seems to me that Americans generally want a tough foreign policy and Republicans are more likely to deliver that than the Democrats. Dick Cheney is a prominent figure who has nothing to lose by speaking his mind challenging the Democrat political monopoly in Washington. President Obama could stand some constructive criticism.

Links to Fact Sources:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22804.html

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/21/cnn-poll-favorable-opinion-of-dick-cheney-on-the-rise/