WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Former Bush administration officials are freely criticizing U.S. President Barack Obama now that the transition period is over, observers say.
After holding their tongues and acting in a collegial way while power was transferred to Obama, the Bush loyalists have began to assail the new president's policies, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said this week that Obama's policies will make it easier for terrorists to kill Americans, while former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales opined the new Attorney General Eric Holder could be undermining the morale of U.S. intelligence officials.
Longtime Bush political adviser Karl Rove, meanwhile, has been particularly outspoken in his criticism of Obama in his appearances as a Fox News commentator, the Post reported.
"It's certainly unbecoming, especially for a former vice president," Thomas Mann of the liberal Brookings Institution said of the remarks by Cheney and others. "It reinforces the fact that there's a lot of bitterness about the low public standing of Bush and the administration as they left office, and the soaring standing of Barack Obama. A lot of these people are still caught up in these ideological battles and can't let go."
