Cheney’s Sniping Only Masks Bush Era Failures: Celestine Bohlen

By Celestine Bohlen
(Note: daughter of "Chip" Bohlen, former U.S. Amb to the Soviet Union)

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s foreign policy is getting slapped around from all sides these days.

Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, took down Obama’s Asia trip with an article headlined, “Amateur Hour at the White House.” This week’s cover story in the Economist magazine asks whether his diplomacy is “weak and naïve.”

Luckily for Obama, the harshest attacks have come from his former Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, and ex-Vice President Dick Cheney. From critics like these, he should be able to take the hits and move on.

Both men start from the premise that in trying to be the world’s Mr. Nice Guy, Obama comes off looking soft. Cheney lashed out at Obama’s deep bow before Japanese Emperor Akihito, which he said was “fundamentally harmful” and a “sign of weakness” -- as if America’s reputation could be damaged by an excess of courtesy.

(More here.)