We’ve all heard the jokes, some of them funny, about [tag]Dick Cheney[/tag] being the real president, but over the weekend, Robert [tag]Kuttner[/tag] made a compelling case that the jokes actually understate the case — Cheney really is the one “running the country.” (via Stickings)
Recent vice presidents Walter Mondale and Al Gore were given more authority than most, but there was no doubt that the president was in charge.
Cheney is in a class by himself. The administration’s grand strategy and its implementation are the work of Cheney — sometimes [tag]Cheney[/tag] and Defense Secretary Donald [tag]Rumsfeld[/tag], sometimes Cheney and political director Karl [tag]Rove[/tag].
Cheney has planted aides in major Cabinet departments, often over the objection of a Cabinet secretary, to make sure his policies are carried out. He sits in on the Senate Republican caucus, to stamp out any rebellions. Cheney loyalists from the Office of the [tag]Vice President[/tag] dominate interagency planning meetings.
The Iraq war is the work of Cheney and Rumsfeld. The capture of the career civil service is pure Cheney. The disciplining of Congress is the work of Cheney and Rove. The turning over of energy policy to the oil companies is Cheney. The extreme secrecy is Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Kuttner argues, persuasively, that the problem with a Cheney presidency is multifold. It’s not just that Cheney is engineering a far-right agenda, and it’s not just the breakdown in the constitutional structure. The most notable problem is the complete lack of accountability — if Cheney were recognized as the man in charge, his conduct would be subjected to more serious scrutiny, and in turn, may be tempered.
It matters, Kuttner said, “because if the man actually running the government is out of the spotlight, the administration and its policies are far less accountable.”
And at this point, accountability is tough because Cheney prefers total secrecy. When The American Prospect’s Robert Dreyfuss requested the names of people who serve on the vice president’s staff, he was told this was classified information. Seriously — public aides, on the public’s payroll, working for a public official, have to be kept secret. Why? Because Cheney says so.
Kuttner argues that the public has a strong distaste for the VP, which should translate into greater political problems for someone who practically runs the executive branch of government.
If Cheney were the actual president, not just the de facto one, he simply could not govern with the same set of policies and approval ratings of 20 percent. The media focuses relentless attention on the president, on the premise that he is actually the chief executive. But for all intents and purposes, Cheney is chief, and Bush is more in the ceremonial role of the queen of England.
Yet the press buys the pretense of Bush being “the decider,” and relentlessly covers Bush — meeting with world leaders, cutting brush, holding press conferences, while Cheney works in secret, largely undisturbed.
Reading this immediately reminded me of Dreyfuss’ stunning American Prospect story from April on Cheney’s hyper-secretive, strikingly powerful White House operation, which executes power in secret and independently — “Cheney’s spies” help kill major initiatives by the State Department and the NSC whenever they think they should. For that matter, Cheney has assembled a “shadow NSC,” filled with loyalists, ideologues, and think-tank partisans, which is controlled exclusively by the VP.
Not bad for a guy who’s gotten everything wrong since 2001.
