Former Vice President Dick Cheney denounced President Barack Obama’s foreign policy and urged a large group of House conservatives to resist isolationism at a meeting of the Republican Study Committee, the Hill reported.
The former vice president focused on foreign policy, touting the importance of U.S. leadership in the world while criticizing proposed cuts to the Pentagon budget. He received multiple ovations during a private discussion that lasted more than 90 minutes in the Capitol basement.
"The Obama administration is taking a lot of steps to diminish our influence and ability to affect the course of affairs," Cheney said in a brief interview with The Hill after the meeting. "The cuts to the defense budget are outrageous. The treatment of our friends in the Middle East have convinced a lot of them we are no longer trustworthy as an ally. It’s a bad situation." […]
Lawmakers in the meeting said Cheney served up some "red meat" and criticized the current administration on a range of foreign policy fronts, warning in particular about the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. The message was a familiar one from Cheney, who, unlike former President George W. Bush, has been an outspoken critic of Obama since shortly after he took office.