Cheney vs Obama; Cheney vs The American Idea

The theatre of yesterday’s speeches from Barack Obama and Dick Cheney was irresistible. And phoney. That is, this was a pretty strange “duel” given that the matter was decided long ago and not just as recently as last November’s election. Or, to put it another way, Dick Cheney might have given a largely and substantively similar speech had John McCain been the 44th President of the United States.

After all, McCain had also promised to close Guantanamo and confirm the prohibition on the use of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” Cheney says are so essential to preserving American security. There’s nothing too surprising about this: Condi Rice also wanted to close Guantanamo and even President Bush held its eventual shuttering as a stated long-term policy aim.

Equally, the most controversial of the interrogation “techniques” were quietly dropped during Bush’s second term. In other words, Cheney was arguing against the administration in which he served.