It should come as no surprise that former VP Dick Cheney, he of the “if the president does it, it’s not illegal” ilk, should take time out from his busy schedule to fan the flames of fear by claiming that there is a real and heightened possibility of “catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years…” (Politico Article)
It seems then that old politicians don’t retire…they merely take their show on the road.
Mr. Cheney’s county-fair level prognostication act is virtually unchanged from his days as Vice President, spouting off on Meet the Press and in any other outlet or venue about ambiguous and mysterious potential threats to American safety and security, all the while providing no detail on critical items like when, where, how, why, etc.
This latest round of fear-mongering seems only designed as a way of criticizing the new Obama administration and stoking the flames of fear that he, Rumsfeld and President Bush worked so hard to ignite during their tenure in our Nation’s capital.
Of course, Mr. Cheney cites an intelligence report that legal experts have disputed in terms of their claims of “recidivism” of Guantanamo detainees and recently released prisoners.
It’s rather unfortunate that Mr. Cheney couldn’t slip quietly into retirement, but rather chooses to spout off here and there in criticism of the new administration. Considering the damage done by the Bush/Cheney administration during the 8 years in office, it is highly likely that President Obama will be forced to spend the better part of his political capital and his first term in office trying to plug the leaks and mend the wounds to the legal system, the Constitution and the public’s perception of Federal government at large.
If I were a member of the Obama administration, I would not lose too much sleep over Mr. Cheney’s criticisms. After all, we are talking about a man who was an integral part of what I have to regard as the most paranoid and fearful administration in American political history – Nixon. Thus, it should come as no surprise that Cheney’s criticisms, judgments and actions while VP stem from this overriding fear of the shadowy, unnamed terrorists and assailants. Cheney and Rumsfeld both formed their ideologies in the Nixon Administration, where paranoia was not only the name of the game, but the proposed means to unbridled executive powers.
Each and every time I read about VP Cheney, I can’t help but ask the question – Is Mr. Cheney familiar at all with the structure of American government? Has he not heard of the separation of powers, of checks and balances? Does he not realize that the kind of power he sought for the President and the Executive Branch was exactly the type of power that the founding fathers sought to loose themselves from by creating the United States in the first place?
Hopefully the former VP will be headed off to his private, Halliburton-furnished island in Dubai soon to retire comfortably and perhaps work on his tan. He left us with a lot to clean up, so it would be nice if he could step aside and let us get to work.
2 Comments
February 5, 2009 at 3:40 pm
dude, thanks for the mental image of a semi-nude Cheney
/well-written
February 8, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Obama would be well served by giving Cheney a position in some outlying south pacific territory we forgot about controlling. Few months in that heat and humidity and his bionic heart will give out – problem solved.