"Open hearts, open minds, and fair-minded words are three ideals we should each employ to help bridge our nation’s divides.  Striving to understand each other will heal our hurts and strengthen our bonds"

You gotta give it to this guy- nobody can string a bunch of sugar-coated, munificent phrases together better than Obama. 

But to quote Judge Judy- President Obama, "Don't piss all over my leg and tell me it's raining".

"Constitution, our cherished values, the rule of law, transparency, accountability, blah, blah, blah".

Does he ever say anything with any real substance? 

I listened to, and read, that speech several times. I got nothing.

And who was he trying to convince with this one? 

"I make this claim not simply as a matter of idealism".

Really, then why do you make this claim? because you said a whole lot of nothing-

What was the point? To try and beat Dick Cheney to the punch? It's a fact that you bumped your speech up a day to make sure yours aired right before his did. 

Watch them back to back and it is obvious who demonstrates character, competence, patriotism and eloquence.

The guy that walked the talk. 

As my 16 year old son would say: Obama- Dick Cheney "powned" you! 

As in, "personally owned".

Here's a link to C-SPAN's unedited coverage of the back-to-back speeches Obama & Cheney gave today on the same subject, national security