Dick Cheney, who
thrives on secrecy while pulling the levers of power, is
getting caught in the glare of an unwelcome spotlight. Once
viewed as a sage and mentor to President Bush, Cheney
has approval ratings now that are as low as--or
lower than--the president's. Recent national polls
have put them both in the high 20s.
Bush's decision
to spare former Cheney aide I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby
from a 2 1/2-year prison sentence has focused new
attention on the vice president and his possible role
in the commutation.
Cheney's
relentless advocacy of the Iraq war, his push to expand
presidential authority, and his hard-line rhetoric toward
North Korea and Iran are raising concerns even among
former loyalists now worried about the GOP's chances
in 2008.
It seems Cheney
fatigue is settling in among some Republican circles.
Republican
strategist Rich Galen, who worked for both Bush and Bush's
father, said he is finding less interest or enthusiasm for
Cheney. ''Republicans have, in essence, moved on and
focused on who to get behind in 2008,'' Galen said.
Cheney has drawn
criticism and ridicule from Democrats for his close ties
to Libby and for his contention--later
modified--that his office is not ''an entity
within the executive branch.''
Bush last week
commuted Libby's sentence for his conviction of lying to
investigators about his role in leaking the identity of a
CIA operative, Valerie Plame. Plame's husband, retired
diplomat Joseph Wilson, was a prominent critic of the
Administration's case for invading Iraq over weapons
of mass destruction.
Bush said the
sentence was excessive. The president kept the issue alive
by saying he would not rule out an eventual full pardon for
Libby.
Wilson said he
would not be surprised if Cheney were ''pulling the
strings here too'' in sparing Libby prison time.
White House
officials said they did not know exactly what role Cheney
may have played in Bush's decision.
GOP strategist
Mary Matalin, once Cheney's top political and public
affairs assistant, suggested detractors are ''score-settling
or agenda-seeking.''
''As the
effectiveness of Bush-bashing winds down as a 'vision' for
their future, Cheney-bashing is their last breath as a
substitute for principles upon which to forge an
agenda to lead the country,'' she said.
Things have not
gone well of late for the vice president. Courts have
ruled against efforts he championed to broaden presidential
authority and accord special treatment to suspected
terrorists.
Cheney's
positions on Iran and North Korea have been tempered partly
part by Bush, who recently authorized tentative
diplomatic overtures to both countries. Bush also
bowed to mounting bipartisan pressure and agreed to
put the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic
surveillance program under the auspices of a special
court.
In addition, the
White House confirmed it is considering closing the U.S.
prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Cheney has long said
the facility is needed.
On top of that,
the Supreme Court has reversed its own April decision and
agreed to hear challenges by Guantanamo detainees in its
fall term.
Is anyone
listening to Cheney anymore?
The vice
president shuffled alone and in silence out of a luncheon
with Republican senators last week amid defections on
Iraq by GOP senators and as the administration's
immigration overhaul went down to defeat.
Sen. Arlen
Specter of Pennsylvania, the senior Republican on the Senate
Judiciary Committee, branded as ''unfounded'' Cheney's claim
to extra protections for his office because of his
constitutional powers to preside over the Senate and
break ties.
''I don't think
he handles too many documents in that capacity. He
handles a gavel. That's about all he handles,'' Specter said
in an interview.
Added Utah
Republican senator Orrin Hatch: ''I don't know what he meant
by that. I think he understands what his role is.''
Still, Hatch
said, Cheney continues to be valuable to the president.
''Everybody knows he's a straight shooter. I know that he
and the president work very closely together. And I
think there's a good reason for it.''
Democrats have
not passed up many opportunities to bash Cheney. ''Who
died and left him boss?'' asked Democratic senator Joe Biden
of Delaware.
Cheney has seen
his influence wane with rank-and-file Republicans and
even conservatives, once his most ardent supporters. They
are uneasy about Cheney's signing on to Bush's attempt
to liberalize immigration law; spread democracy in the
Middle East, which they deride as ''nation building'';
the amassing of record budget deficits; and even Cheney's
support for certain gay rights (a daughter, Mary, is
lesbian).
''We don't feel
we're invested in Cheney, because he hasn't--in any
way we're aware of--carried any of our water in
these 6 1/2 years,'' conservative activist Richard
Viguerie said.
Most of Cheney's
hard-line colleagues are gone: Defense secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld, World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, U.N.
ambassador John Bolton.
More moderate
players now command Bush's attention and oversee the
national agenda: Robert Gates at the Pentagon, Condoleezza
Rice at the State Department, Stephen Hadley as
national security adviser.
Bush clearly
still values Cheney's advice, and the vice president is at
Bush's side in major policy meetings.
''He must be an
awfully bruised guy at this point. I think his star has
set,'' said Thomas E. Cronin, a political science professor
at Colorado College, where Cheney's wife, Lynne, and
their daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, went to college.
''People who knew
Cheney, whether they speak on or off the record, feel
something changed with him. And they don't know when.
Obviously, post-Watergate reforms of Congress and
weakening the executive branch have affected him. He
speaks a lot about that. Haliburton probably changed
him. Maybe his [four] heart attacks changed him,'' Cronin
said.
Cheney, 66, was
chief of staff to President Ford, represented Wyoming in
Congress in the 1980s, and was secretary of Defense under
the first President Bush and chief executive officer
of oil-services company Haliburton in the 1990s.
He has a history
of heart problems, including four heart attacks,
quadruple bypass surgery, two artery-clearing angioplasties,
and an operation to implant a pacemaker-defibrillator.
(Tom Raum, AP)