Former Vice President Dick Cheney said a sense in the rest of the world had developed over the years of the Obama administration that the U.S. has a "weak government" on Fox News Sunday.
Discussing the Ukraine crisis and Obama's response to aggressive actions by Russian president Vladimir Putin, Cheney said Obama had been a "weak president" and shown he will kowtow to Putin on international matters.
"We saw, for example, the mere request from Putin that President Obama withdrew the plans for a missile defense program based in Poland and the Czech Republic," Cheney said. "He's demonstrated repeatedly, I think, that he in fact can be pushed around, if you will, by the Putins, and I don't think that Mr. Putin has any hesitation at all from the standpoint of the American president of changing his course of action. I think he's taken advantage of this opportunity when he thinks we have a weak president to try to restore some of the old Soviet Union."
Full exchange:
CHRIS WALLACE: All right, Mr. Vice President, let's turn to the standoff in Ukraine. How do you think President Obama has handled Russian President Putin both before and now during this crisis?
DICK CHENEY: Well, I think you've got to look beyond just that most immediate crisis. Obviously, we've got to deal with that, but there has developed over the years of the Obama administration, I think, a sense on the part of others, that we have a weak government. We saw, for example, the mere request from Putin that President Obama withdrew the plans for a missile defense program based in Poland and the Czech Republic. He's demonstrated repeatedly, I think, that he in fact can be pushed around, if you will, by the Putins, and I don't think that Mr. Putin has any hesitation at all from the standpoint of the American president of changing his course of action. I think he's taken advantage of this opportunity when he thinks we have a weak president to try to restore some of the old Soviet Union.