"Vice" Cheney Seeks to Humiliate President Obama on the International Stage

I am glad that former Vice President Dick Cheney has apparently regained his health. I am not pleased that he is using his newfound energy and vitality to engage in highly-publicized invective against the administration.

The latest blast from “Vice” is to criticize the president’s selections for Secretaries of State and Defense and the individual to head the Central Intelligence Agency.  Cheney alleges that by nominating the individuals that he has, President Obama is jeopardizing national security, and that his choices are “second-rate people”.

Was Vice-President Cheney a “first-rate person” or a leader of distinction when he told a United States Senator on the floor of the body, “Go  ---- yourself!”?  Was it first rate to utter the ridiculous statement, “Deficits don’t matter”?  Even staunch fiscal conservatives would have to acknowledge the foolishness of the latter utterance.

Was an ordinary citizen to make criticism similar to that of the former vice-president, it would be perfectly acceptable and no one would bat an eyelash, but when a former leader makes such statements, which are virtually without precedent, it instantly becomes national and international news, the dissension no doubt delighting our many foes. 

It is interesting to note that former President George W. Bush, who did not act as a statesman while our leader, has displayed statesmanlike qualities in retirement, declining to publicly criticize his successors, appropriately stating that President Obama “deserves my silence.”

I have heard no praise from Vice-President Cheney for all of the ways in which President Obama’s administration has been an extension of that of Bush/Cheney.  President Obama has kept the Guantanamo Bay prison open (in violation of his promise to close it within one year of his inauguration), has pursued terrorist leaders with vigor (and unlike Bush/Cheney, killed its key leaders), and continues the policy of drone airstrikes, which have created significant collateral damage and animosity from our fair-weather ally, Pakistan, which alleges us to be violating its sovereignty.

One must question what Vice-President Cheney’s motivation is in publicly criticizing President Obama’s performance.  I conclude that he is willing to harm the nation’s prestige and reputation in order to score cheap political points.  Is that the mark of an esteemed leader?