You’d think he was inexperienced or something.

Via Legal Insurrection and Memeorandum: The 10 punches Dick Cheney landed on Barack Obama’s jaw.

This one’s my favorite:

But the very fact that Obama chose to schedule his speech (Cheney’s was announced first) at exactly the same time as the former veep was a sign of some weakness.

William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection thinks it’s more than just weakness. Maybe he’s right, but I don’t think it matters.

Like Little Miss Attila said: pick fights upward. It’s a good idea in blogging. It’s a good idea in politics. See, if you can get somebody who outranks you to fight with you publicly, then you’re no longer outranked. Now you’re on the same level.

On the flip side, you don’t ever want to get sucked into an argument with somebody lower than you. That’s why Matthew Yglesias and Andrew Sullivan have, so far, ignored my biting and devastating attacks on their manhood. Because to do so would both elevate me (not a pun) and de-elevate them.

At best, Obama should have sent V.P. Biden out to challenge Cheney.

Snort! Ha. Can’t believe I said that with a straight face. No, he should have, at the most, sent Robert Gates out to do it. Maybe an undersecretary, even. Somebody well down the chain should have responded, and only after the fact.

That Obama himself is dueling Cheney at all – and never mind that he felt it necessary to “pre-empt” Cheney – speaks to an enormous lack of confidence. Either that, or it’s evidence that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Or, most likely, both.

UPDATE – Linked at Protein Wisdom. Thanks Dan!

UPDATE II – Linked by Ed Driscoll. You know, I can’t help but notice that I get linked more when I link William Jacobson. You’d think he was making it happen.