If you could choose your enemies

Steve Benen notes that, to his credit, the former president has refused to publicly criticize president Obama. That's a mature and respectful position from W. Benen though wonders why this doesn't apply to Mr. Cheney,

Indeed, while the former president believes it's "essential" to support Obama, the former vice president waited all of two weeks after the inauguration before accusing Obama of coddling terrorists and putting American lives at risk.

Maybe the country "deserves" Dick Cheney's "silence," too?

First, I doubt that Bush and Cheney are coordinating their messages. By all accounts they had a tremendous falling out when Bush refused to pardon Cheney's hatchet-man Scooter Libby. Second, while the nation may "deserve" silence from our disgraced former VP I cannot think of a better enemy for Obama. Cheney is a widely despised and loathed figure who left office in utter disgrace. Having Dick Cheney standing in the wings lobbing rhetorical grenades only benefits the target, in this case the president. If you want to increase public sympathy for the new administration and remind the public of the utter mess that they inherited I can think of no better strategy than to trot (or roll) Dick Cheney out from his undisclosed location every couple of weeks to make outlandish and inflammatory comments on national television.