Obama, Cheney offer competing views on national security

(CNN) -- President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney offered competing views on how to keep America safe in back-to-back speeches Thursday.
President Obama says he is trying to clean up "a mess" left behind by the Bush administration.

President Obama says he is trying to clean up "a mess" left behind by the Bush administration.

Obama said his administration is trying to clean up "a mess" left behind by the Bush administration. He defended his plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, his ban on torture, the release of Bush-era interrogation memos and his objection to the release of prisoner photos.

Cheney stood up for the Bush administration's security record, arguing that Obama has weakened the country's ability to combat al Qaeda and other extremists. He defended the use of enhanced interrogation techniques as a success that changed thousands of lives. He called the release of the Bush-era memos a reckless distraction and belittled Obama's decision to close Guantanamo "with little deliberation and no plan."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman wrote off Cheney's address as something more beneficial to Democrats than Republicans.

"He is such a wildly unpopular figure trying to defend such discredited policies that Democrats would like to be able to find a way to pay him to give more of these kinds of speeches," Jim Manley said.

In the past two months, the former vice president has become a frequent critic of the new administration in numerous national media interviews.

But House Minority Leader John Boehner said Cheney's voice boosts his party's cause.

"Listen, Dick Cheney has been around this town for the last 35 years -- 40 years. He knows how this town works, and frankly, he's very knowledgeable when it comes to the strategies that the administration took with regard to dealing with this terrorist threat. And having him out there, outlining those strategies and why we're engaged in this, I think, is helpful to the debate," Boehner said.