http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702044.htmlIs the vice president losing his influence, or perhaps his mind? That question, even if it is phrased more delicately, is creeping through foreign ministries and presidential offices abroad and has become a factor in the Bush administration's relations with the world....It is not new for Americans to question whether their leaders have become delusional. Editors at The Post directed reporters to find out if Jimmy Carter had suffered a nervous breakdown when he retreated to Camp David for 10 days in 1979 and abruptly fired five Cabinet officers. Remember the hubbub over Al Haig's "I am in control here" and other Captain Queegish remarks, or Richard Nixon's talking to portraits?
What is unusual is for foreigners to think about a vice president at all and to question what effect the VP's moods and internal policy defeats have on America's standing in the world.
But what goes up must come down. In the first term, Cheney was styled as the most influential vice president in history -- in more lurid versions, an evil puppeteer pulling George W. Bush's strings. So now his irascibility in television interviews triggers diplomatic cables analyzing his equilibrium -- as well as inspiring a booming industry of scathing cartoons and television one-liners here at home....But it is clear that Bush has always been much more the decision maker than the Cheney-as-puppeteer image conveyed. It is not just recently that Bush has failed to follow Cheney's counsel:
On Iraq, Bush overruled Cheney on going to the United Nations for a second use-of-force resolution and then listened much more closely (and disastrously) to policy prescriptions from proconsul L. Paul Bremer and others. On Iran, Cheney came to office with relatively more relaxed attitudes than Bush. Cheney's attitudes may have been formed by his experiences as chief executive of Halliburton, an oil services company that has sought out business contacts with that nation.
There is much to credit in Cheney's frequent protestations that unmitigated loyalty to Bush is more important to their relationship than the policy advice that Cheney gives the president. It is advice that he never discloses to associates in the Cabinet or to the few diplomats he sees...So listen up, diplomats: However beleaguered, Cheney will not resign over the president's refusal to take his advice. The only force that could drive him to that dramatic step would be that unshakable sense of loyalty to Bush, who desperately now needs a vice president in stable physical, emotional and political health. That is the equation you want to be watching.
jimhoagland@washpost.com
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