Obama and former vice president Cheney have squared-off in a long distance debate over national security. Cheney defended the Bush administration’s policies which resulted in obtaining vital information from captured terrorists and kept America safe from another major terrorist attack, while Obama promoted his weak approach to national security. The president apparently believes that returning the country to a pre-9/11 mindset is a prudent course to take.

In self-righteous condemnation Obama called Waterboarding “brutal”, which is a gross overstatement. Waterboarding is a method to trick a person into thinking they are drowning - a trick, there is no real harm. It is not brutal in any meaningful way. It was only used three times on the worst captured terrorists, yet Obama and his supporters railed against it from atop their moral high horse. Obama has said that ‘other’ methods could extract the same information, but he never explains what those ‘other’ methods are. Obama also declared that enhanced interrogation methods “did not advance our war and counter-terrorism efforts” and “has weakened American national security.” - an astounding accusation in spite of the fact that the Bush administration’s policies did keep the American people safe. Obama never explained exactly how American security was ‘weakened’, but only offered the familiar campaign talking points.

The president reiterated his pledged to close the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay and said: “Rather than keep us safer, the prison at Guantanamo has weakened American national security…It is a rallying cry for our enemies.” This is another unsubstantiated claim from Obama and the political left, since there is no evidence that Gitmo is a recruiting tool for Islamic extremists. While there was inappropriate conduct in a few isolated instances, it certainly does not justify the vilification of Gitmo, yet alone its closing.

The most amusing statement Obama said in defense of his national security policies: “If we cannot stand for those core values, then we are not keeping faith with the documents that are enshrined in this hall.” Nowhere in the founding documents does it say that America should not take strong measures to protect its citizens or use enhanced interrogation techniques. Neither the letter nor the spirit of America’s founding values were violated in any way by the Bush administration’s national security policies.

Obama then contradicts himself with: “We know that al Qaeda is actively planning to attack us again. We know that this threat will be with us for a long time, and that we must use all elements of our power to defeat it [emphasis added].” Clearly he has no intention to use “all elements”, only those which conform to his unrealistic beliefs on how to combat international terrorism. By contrast, Cheney’s speech emphasized the need for strength and common sense with the realities surrounding terrorism.

The most disingenuous and outrageous part of Obama’s speech was that it was given at the National Archives in front of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Obama and the Left have mounted constant attacks on the very documents they pretend to respect. The first two Amendments of the Bill of Rights are currently under attack by the Obama administration with so-called Hate Crimes laws and the desire to reinstate the deceptive ‘Assault’ Weapons ban. Everything from the spirit of rugged American individualism to free markets are rejected by modern liberals/socialists. How incredibly arrogant and misleading for this man to stand in a room with the very documents he is actively trying to nullify. Obama’s judicial nominations also demonstrate his disrespect for the Constitution. The Founders would be appalled by judges who weaken the rule-of-law with their ‘empathy’, and undermine American sovereignty by incorporating foreign rulings into our courts.

Obama and the Democrats are simply politicizing national security for their own nefarious purposes while endangering the American people. Never before has a new president been so obsessed with scapegoating and attacking the previous administration. Obama constantly plays the victim-card while truly weakening this nation with his naïve and misguided approach to national security. If Obama spent as much time attacking Islamic terrorists as he does his predecessors, there would be no doubt as to America’s safety.