Asked Wednesday if he had any response to criticism by Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz that no president had done worse in office than Barack Obama, White House press secretary Jay Carney delivered the perfect reply.
"Which president was he talking about?" he deadpanned at his final White House briefing.
"It's always good to hear from former Vice President Dick Cheney," he added.
In a Tuesday op-ed, the Cheneys assailed President Barack Obama for "abandoning" Iraq to Islamic militants who have been gaining territory in their march to Baghdad. They proclaimed, perhaps with some lack of self-awareness, "Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many."
"He seems blithely unaware, or indifferent to the fact, that a resurgent al Qaeda presents a clear and present danger to the United States of America," they added.
Departing from Carney's stone-faced approach, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) took to the Senate floor to lambaste the former vice president for doling out advice about a costly conflict that many believe was a misguided effort engineered by the Bush administration.
"If there's one thing this country does not need, is that we should be taking advice from Dick Cheney on wars," Reid said. "Being on the wrong side of Dick Cheney is being on the right side of history. To the architects of the Iraq War who are now so eager to offer their expert analysis, I say, Mr. President, thanks, but no thanks. Unfortunately, we have already tried it your way and it was the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of the country."
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