Cheney: Obama will be a one-term president

Former Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise appearance at a gathering of several thousand conservatives in Washington Thursday, predicting that President Obama will be voted out of office in 2012.

“The developments that we’ve seen over the last several months are enormously encouraging,” Cheney said to CPAC, the gathering organized by the American Conservative Union Foundation.

Cheney pointed to recent elections in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts, and said “the sky’s the limit” electorally for Republicans this year.

“I think 2010 is going to be a phenomenal year,” Cheney said. “And I think Barack Obama is a one-term president.”

Cheney received wild cheers and a standing ovation when he appeared, unannounced, on the stage following remarks by his daughter, Liz Cheney. A man in the crowd shouted, “Thank you.”

The former vice president, who has been one of the Obama administration’s biggest critics, spoke for only a few minutes.