Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked at today’s press briefing to comment on former Vice President Dick Cheney’s assertion last night that the Obama White House was “dithering” on Afghanistan and should “do what it takes to win.”
“It’s a curious comment,” Gibbs said. “I think it’s pretty safe to say that the vice president was, for seven years, not focused on Afghanistan. Even more curious given that an increase in troops sat on desks in this White House, including the vice president’s for more than eight months.”
And then Gibbs delivered this one:
What Vice President Cheney calls dithering, President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public. I think we’ve all seen what happens when somebody doesn’t take that responsibility seriously.
When asked about requests for additional troops — currently and during the Bush administration — and Cheney’s criticism, Gibbs said, “That’s a fabulous question for the vice president who seems to have forgotten his role in the last seven years of Afghanistan.”
I’m simply saying, I think it’s interesting that what the vice president is suggesting the president isn’t acting on is what the previous administration didn’t act on.
“It defies some modicum of logic,” Gibbs said.
This is just the latest in what’s become a pretty snippy back-and-forth blame game between the Obama and Bush administrations. Already this week, former Bush adviser Karl Rove called Gibbs “a bully,” former Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino likened the Obama administration’s war on Fox News to the actions of a dictator, and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, senior adviser David Axelrod and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett all said on Sunday that the Bush White House was responsible for some of the country’s current problems.
We’ll have video of Gibbs up shortly.
Late Update: Here’s the video.
