The former Veep is undermining national security

Randi Kreiss

In the unwritten political bible, it is said that there’s a time to speak out and a time to remain silent, a time to tear down and a time to build up, a time to stay and a time to go. Former Vice President Dick Cheney is speaking out and tearing down when he should remain silent. And clearly, his departure from the public scene is long overdue.

The first word in front of his name is “former,” and Cheney doesn’t get it. From the moment President Obama took office, he has been on the sidelines like a pit bull on crack, barking, biting and generally spewing a foul stream of mean-spirited negativism.

His vociferous criticism of everything Obama is, at the least, bad form, poor political etiquette and nasty — he’s taken the low road and he’s driving fast.

It has always been the tradition that former presidents and vice presidents don’t criticize their successors, no matter how bitter the divide. The reason for that is devotion to the greater good of the country, the same way families may squabble and still present a united front to outsiders.

But it isn’t just that Cheney is mean and intolerant; he has become dangerous and, dare I say, since he is the arbiter of all things patriotic, unpatriotic in his public attacks and assertions. We are at war, and as a public figure, he needs to support the efforts of his president.

You don’t hear either former President Bush criticizing Obama in public. And have you witnessed the bonhomie among George the First, George the Second and former President Bill Clinton when it comes to humanitarian global projects like aid to Haiti?

They can take the high road because Dick Cheney is there to do the dirty work. Add to that Liz Cheney, a third-tier former diplomat with political aspirations of her own. Liz and her father double-team the Obama administration, taking shots, criticizing every policy, every decision, every motive of the new president even before a plan has a chance to succeed.