Reed: GOP just blames Obama for cleaning up messes they caused

Republicans have developed a pattern of criticizing President Barack Obama for trying to fix problems the GOP caused, one Democratic senator said Thursday.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a former Army Ranger who serves on the Armed Services Committee, blasted Republicans and former Vice President Dick Cheney for their criticism of Obama's handling of national security issues.

"Republicans have developed a troubling pattern of blaming President Obama for trying to fix all the problems they created," Reed said in a conference call.

"They say that elephants don't forget, but it looks like many members of the Republican Party have a mass case of amnesia," Reed explained. "The same politicians who were demanding that the current president stop dithering and do whatever his generals suggest forget that the previous administration ignored and under resourced our commanders and soldiers in Afghanistan for nearly eight years."

Reed's remarks mark the latest salvo Thursday in the back and forth between Democrats and Republicans since Cheney accused Obama of "dithering" over his decision on whether to send new troops to Afghanistan.

"Why didn't the former vice president ask George Bush to just do what it takes to win in Afghanistan for the seven years when he was in office, instead of blindly rushing into Iraq and allowing Afghanistan to drift into chaos?" Reed shot back, noting that he voted against the U.S. invasion of Iraq.