The White House is firing back at former Vice President Dick Cheney who accused President Barack Obama of “dithering” and being “afraid to make a decision” on whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
“I think it’s a curious comment,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters at his midday briefing.
“I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Vice President was for seven years not focused on Afghanistan,” Gibbs added.
“Even more curious, given the fact that (an) increase in troops sat on desks in this White House, including the vice president’s, for more than eight months, a resource request filled by President Obama in March,” he said.
Speaking to the Center for Security Policy, a Washington think-tank, Cheney said the White House needed to “stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.”
“Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission,” Cheney said. 
General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has recommended a troop increase of 40,000. Obama has been holding a series of policy meetings with his top advisers to review the request and has said he wants to make a thorough review of the strategy before deciding whether to approve more troops.
“What Vice President Cheney calls ‘dithering,’ President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public,” Gibbs said. “I think we’ve all seen what happens when somebody doesn’t take that responsibility seriously.”
What do you think? Is Obama “dithering” as Cheney says, or acting in a thorough manner as the White House says?
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PHOTO CREDIT: REUTERS/Pool (Cheney in Kabul in March 2008), REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (Obama with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the White House in May)
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Obama’s nickname is “MR DITHERS”. The guy is afraid to make a decision for fear he will make the wrong one; thus he has made a decision to do nothing!
The man is well above his abilities to do more than make a nice speech.
- Posted by walterBrian, it’s too bad you can’t spell or compose a grammatically correct sentence. It’s also too bad you spout right wing diatribes instead of carefully analyzing the facts. You’re probably the one sending all those hoax emails around the internet that always seem aimed at Obama or the left. When Bush was in office the same thing happened, all the misinformation was from the Republication side of the political spectrum.
- Posted by RichardWIs it any surprise that Cheney decided to crawl out from under his rock only after Obama started to get beat up in the polls? I don’t think the President needs to listen to Dick Cheney. Nor should anyone else.
- Posted by RobertLWhere’s the transparency? Where are the bills on the web five days before signing so that “all Americans will see” what is being signed? This president spends so much face time in front of the cameras but heaven forbid that teleprompter goes down because then he becomes the inexperienced fool he’s always been.
- Posted by dgwilrealitybites,this is the difference between the two different political sides,the liberal one always wants the other one to shut up.Go through the different blogs and interestingly see how many liberals are suggesting that in their execration, that conservatives should not have any dialog!Not only do the hate Sarah Palin but they are venomous apposed to the fact that she continues to give her opinion.Whether you have realized this or not this is fundamental of the mindset attached to socialist diatribe.So it comes as no surprise that Obama thinks it rational that Fox news should not be watched!
- Posted by brian lee