They may have won the campaign, but you wouldn’t know it from their press secretary’s behavior.  Robert Gibbs continues to use the daily White House press briefing to lash out at Republicans.  The latest outburst came today, when Gibbs attacked former Vice President Cheney for raising concerns about the amount of time the White House is taking to fulfill General McChrystal’s Afghanistan troop request.  Maybe Obama’s press secretary’s just feeling a little defensive about his boss’ dithering over our strategy in Afghanistan while he fundraises for political allies.

Reacting to Vice President Cheney’s speech last night, Gibbs said:

I find it interesting that he's blaming us for something that he didn't see fit to do over, best I can tell, seven years of a war in Afghanistan. [Vice President Cheney] seems to have forgotten his role in the last seven years in Afghanistan.

Gibbs’ comments are surprising when contrasted with the generous cooperation the previous administration offered the incoming Obama White House during the transition last year, as Vice President Cheney pointed out last night in the same speech that had Gibbs in a huff:

Recently, President Obama’s advisors have decided that it’s easier to blame the Bush Administration than support our troops. This weekend they leveled a charge that cannot go unanswered. The President’s chief of staff claimed that the Bush Administration hadn’t asked any tough questions about Afghanistan, and he complained that the Obama Administration had to start from scratch to put together a strategy.

In the fall of 2008, fully aware of the need to meet new challenges being posed by the Taliban, we dug into every aspect of Afghanistan policy, assembling a team that traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, reviewing options and recommendations, and briefing President-elect Obama’s team. They asked us not to announce our findings publicly, and we agreed, giving them the benefit of our work and the benefit of the doubt. The new strategy they embraced in March, with a focus on counterinsurgency and an increase in the numbers of troops, bears a striking resemblance to the strategy we passed to them. They made a decision – a good one, I think – and sent a commander into the field to implement it.

Now they seem to be pulling back and blaming others for their failure to implement the strategy they embraced. It’s time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity.

It’s unfortunate that with all the challenges facing America, nearly a year after the election, the White House continues to operate as campaign headquarters.  Obama For America’s campaign spokesman, and now White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, is continuously on the attack.  Mr. Gibbs should take a look around and remind himself that he works for the American people in the White House, not the Democratic nominee on the campaign trail.