Obama v. Cheney - National Security

I will blog on this later tonight as I have no time now. Some quick thoughts -

Candidate Obama showed up. This was a long campaign stump speech in which he reitterated all of his many charges against the Bush regime - that every decision Bush made in the War on Terror, from Guantanamo to enhanced interrogation, made us less safe, caused increases in terrorist recruitment, and somehow undermined the rule of law. According to Obama, people who argue against him are fearmongering. And Obama was angry - as angry as I have heard him. Clearly he does not like being effectively challenged.

Cheney's speech was a model of clarity. He took Obama to task for, among other things, the feigned moralizing outrage against the prior regime and the decisions to dispense with Guantanamo and enhanced interrogation. Further, Cheney took Obama to task for refusing to release the memos that Cheney claims will show to the US the value of the enhanced interrogation.

Much more to follow.