Obama to Debate Cheney...Sort of

It won't be face-to-face, but more of a point/counterpoint with one speech following the other:

President Barack Obama plans to say in his speech Thursday that the U.S. lost its way in fighting terrorism over the last eight years by failing to trust its institutions and values, according to an administration official.

Obama will also renew his pledge to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying he will honor the commitment he made in the first week of his presidency.

In a remarkable split-screen presentation of opposing world views, former Vice President Dick Cheney will speak on the exact same topic moments after Obama finishes. Cheney is appearing at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, where the audience will watch the president on large TV screens.

Cheney will say: “When President Obama makes wise decisions, he deserves our support. And when he mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer.”

Obama will say that the U.S. "lost their way fighting terror" while at the same time continuing one Bush policy after another.

If Bush and Cheney were lost, Obama is willing to be lost with them.

And, according to a CNN poll, Dick Cheney's favorability rating is up 8 points since January. Obama's? Not so much.

UPDATE: Here's the text of the Cheney speech.