Dick Cheney is not one to hold his fire. After leaving the White House, he's eschewed the low profile taken by past vice presidents in order to blast the Obama administration's national-security decisions frequently and openly. Click through this TNR slideshow to see the top ten most combative statements made by Cheney since January 20, 2009.
After accepting Center for Security Policy's "Keeper of the Flame" award, Cheney criticized the Obama administration's policy reassessment for Afghanistan: "It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise. The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger."
When Attorney General Eric Holder announced his decision to investigate CIA operatives for engaging in torture, Cheney responded on Fox News Sunday, saying the decision "offends the hell out of me. … It's an outrageous political act.”
In his first post-vice presidential interview, Cheney said he thought Obama would make the country less safe from a terrorist attack. "The ultimate threat to the country," he said, would be a 9/11-style attack with nuclear or biological arms. "I think there’s a high probability of such an attempt. Whether or not they can pull it off depends whether or not we keep in place policies that have allowed us to defeat all further attempts, since 9/11, to launch mass-casualty attacks against the United States."
At the American Enterprise Institute, Cheney criticized the Obama administration's centrist tendencies. "The administration seems to pride itself on searching for some kind of middle ground in policies addressing terrorism. … If liberals are unhappy about some decisions, and conservatives are unhappy about other decisions, then it may seem to them that the President is on the path of sensible compromise. But in the fight against terrorism, there is no middle ground."
When Obama shook hands with Hugo Chavez at an OAS summit, Cheney attacked Obama’s foreign policy: "What I find disturbing is the extent to which he's gone to Europe and seemed to apologize profusely, been to Mexico and seemed to apologize there," Cheney said. "I don't think we have much to apologize for. … The president needs to provide leadership," and he "needs to distinguish between good [guys] and bad guys."
Cheney also attacked Obama's foreign policy for failing to display American strength. "I think you have to be very careful. The world outside there, both our friends and our foes, will be quick to take advantage of a situation if they think they're dealing with a weak president or one who is not going to stand up and aggressively defend America's interests."
Cheney decided to give his first post-vice presidential television interview after Obama announced his intention close down Guantanamo Bay. "I think those programs were absolutely essential. … President Obama campaigned against it all across the country. And now he is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack."
When asked whether Republicans should take their lead from Rush Limbaugh or Colin Powell, Cheney did not hesitate to answer. "If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I'd go with Rush Limbaugh. … My take on it was Colin had already left the party. I didn't know he was still a Republican."
When CIA Director Leon Panetta said that Cheney’s comments made it seem like he "smells blood in the water on the national security issue," Cheney responded: "I hope my old friend Leon was misquoted."
The closest thing to a direct exchange between Cheney and Obama came in May, when Cheney scheduled a speech to immediately follow Obama's national security address. "When President Obama makes wise decisions, he deserves our support," Cheney explained. "When he mischaracterizes the decisions we made, he deserves an answer."
Click here to read Michelle Cottle on the intersection between Cheney’s heart problems and his political outbursts.
Click here to read Jack Goldsmith on how the Obama administration is fighting terrorism more effectively then the Bush administration.
Click here to read Eli Lake on Cheney’s paranoid view of the Obama administration's national-security policies.
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