Ever since Barack Obama took office, Dick Cheney has been predicting another terrorist attack on our soil.

So when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to take down that Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas, Cheney couldn’t resist crowing about it—and taking a couple more cheap shots at Barack Obama.

“We are at war, and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe,” Cheney said. "He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won't be at war."

Actually, Obama understands full well that we’re at war against Al Qaeda.

Here’s what he said in his Inaugural Address:

To “those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken -- you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you. “

And here’s what he said on December 28:

“Those who would slaughter innocent men, women and children must know that the United States will more -- do more than simply strengthen our defenses. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the U.S. homeland.”

Obama also grasps one thing that Cheney does not: that when the United States tortures people, it only fuels the resentment that breeds recruits like Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

Cheney and Bush had eight years in power. They were totally asleep at the wheel when 9/11 happened. They had bin Laden cornered in Tora Bora but outsourced the job, and he got away. Instead of crushing Al Qaeda, they indulged their Iraq fantasy and diverted enormous resources to that foolish and illegal war.

So who is Cheney to talk?

Obama has responded swiftly and responsibly to the Christmas bombing attempt.

He owned up to the fact that “a systemic failure has occurred,” which he rightly called “totally acceptable.”

He immediately tightened security.

And he ordered two internal reviews.

Yes, he should do more.

He should fire Janet Napolitano for her unforgivable remark that “the system worked.” And whoever fed her that line should be canned, too.

And he should fire anyone in the intelligence agencies who mishandled the crucial bits of information that were available about this plot.

But to say that Obama denies we’re at war because “it doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency—social transformation—the restructuring of American society” is about as low as Cheney can go.

And he can go pretty low.