Cheney goes from asset to albatross


02/04/02













Two things stand out as President Bush ends his first year in office, and both are surprises, one pleasant, the other not so.


The first, of course, is Bush's emergence in the wake of the World Trade Center attack as a forthright manager of the Free World's response to terrorism, even an unexpectedly articulate one, as his State of the Union message demonstrated. The second, alas, is the decline -- in both importance and as a political asset -- of Vice President Dick Cheney.


Until just five months ago, Cheney was widely seen as the senior partner in the Bush administration, the old pro who'd take a rookie president by the hand and lead him safely through the Washington minefield. It was not an unwarranted assessment.


Cheney's selection as Bush's running mate, while a bit of a letdown when first announced, proved an inspired choice in the campaign. He lent weight and authority to the team, substance to a presidential nominee who seemed superficial, and he came off a clear winner in his vice presidential debate with Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman.


He had credentials. He'd been chief of staff in the Ford White House 25 years earlier and defense secretary during the Gulf War. He'd pick up the ball if Bush dropped it.


All that has changed since Sept. 11. While Cheney seemed to vanish into the White House woodwork -- the joke was "Who'll be found first, Cheney or bin Laden?" -- Bush has moved to center stage, nationally and around the globe. No longer does he share the spotlight with Cheney as he did for many of his first days on the job.


It couldn't be any other way, really. No one, here or overseas, would settle for less than the commander in chief as out-front leader of an effort Bush himself labeled a war -- one that would project U.S. power across the globe and require commitments from other nations. Only the President himself would do.


But Cheney's decline involves more. Once an indisputable asset, the vice president is now a potential liability. His problem: He's the poster boy for the claims that this administration is far too cozy with corporate America, a patsy for the boys in the boardroom, even the bad boys from Enron.


Cheney's corporate connections and bias toward big business are well-established. Even in his time as a conservative Wyoming congressman, he was deemed a lock to vote for almost anything corporate America wanted, especially the extraction industry -- oil, gas, mining. The connection deepened in his post-Washington years when he became a top executive for Halliburton, a Texas oil firm. It was while working for Halliburton that Cheney agreed to lead the vice president search that wound up selecting him.


That background alone was enough to raise Democratic hackles when Bush put Cheney in charge of closed-door deliberations to develop a new national energy policy. Bush, it seemed, was about to hand a bonanza to his oil business buddies, with Cheney, an old Texas oil hand himself, cutting up the cake. Then along came Enron, the icing on the cake.


A demonstrably crooked company -- it cooked the books -- Enron and its bosses had a ringside seat at the energy deliberations, and Congress, even some Republicans, wants to know who said what to whom when the doors were closed.


Trouble is, Cheney won't tell. With Bush's blessing, he has refused to turn over any information about the sessions, prompting the General Accounting Office, Congress' watchdog, to announce it will sue for at least some information -- who participated, for example, and how often -- if not for meeting minutes.


It's a battle with constitutional and political implications. The White House argues that a Congress poking its nose into such executive branch decision-making violates the separation of powers principle and that no one will talk to the White House if its confidences are later exposed.


Both are good points. But Congress has an oversight responsibility that can clash with this notion of all-inclusive executive privilege. Bill Clinton turned over such information to Congress regularly. And some of the same congressional Republicans who defend the Cheney stonewall were just as insistent that Hillary Clinton turn over documents from her closed-door health reform deliberations.


It's an issue for the courts and one that Bush could win. But from a political standpoint, it's a likely loser.


With critical congressional elections on tap in November and the fragile economy an issue, Bush and Republicans need to distance themselves a bit from business. It won't be easy. Democrats have failed so far to tie the Enron tin can to the GOP tail, but Cheney's stonewalling on energy deliberations gives them enough ammunition to keep the issue alive. He's the liability they love.


John Farmer is The Star-Ledger's national political correspondent.