Obama Vs. Cheney - Whos is Better at Protecting the USA

(CBS) It was a debate separated by an hour in time, ten blocks on the map, an election, and profound ideological differences.

America heard President Obama this morning from the National Archives and former Vice President Dick Cheney, a half mile away at the offices of the American Enterprise Institute.

They laid out the stark differences in their approaches to the interrogations of terrorists and the treatment and trial of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

They both renewed their commitments to keeping America safe, but made it clear they thought the other's strategy would have the opposite effect.

It’s hard to imagine a more elevated setting for the President’s remarks. He spoke from the Mt. Olympus of American democracy - the great rotunda of the National Archives - surrounded on three sides by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (though documents in the display cases today were facsimiles, to protect the originals from the harsh TV lights).

He was bluntly critical of his predecessor’s policies calling them "a series of hasty decisions...based upon fear rather than foresight."

In an ordinary conference room at AEI, the conservative think tank, Cheney said made no apologies for what he called "the comprehensive strategy" he said the Bush Administration developed "to make certain our nation never again faced such a day of horror."

To Obama, that strategy included breaches of America’s core values in the methods of surveillance, interrogation and detention of terror suspects.

To Cheney, the policies reflected powers derived from Article II of the Constitution and from the Joint Resolution of Congress authorizing the use of "all necessary and appropriate force" to protect the American people. - CBS News Story

For a man who preached Change and looking forward, Obama sure does spend an awful lot of time blaming somebody else and defending himself and his ideas.

A person once told me, If you have to put somebody else down to justify yourself then you aren't doing something right. BINGO!!!! I think this President is beginning to believe his own BS.

If you feel the need to change something, change it. It is your perogative, you are in charge. There is absolutely no benefit to saying you are changing it because the guy who had your job before you blah blah blah.