Former Vice President Dick Cheney gave his take on the country’s economic meltdown on CNN today — and gave further evidence of why Democrats, independents, and thoughtful Republicans should be thankful he is the former Vice President.
You can boil Cheney’s response down in two key points:
1. Don’t blame us. It was global forces and if you blame us it’s “interesting rhetoric.” So, Mr. Cheney, make sure you send out an email to economists all over the world who feel, yes, the Bush administration did play a key role in what happened. Also, Mr. Cheney, here’s a Google page where you can do some research to see that quite a few economists, voters and pundits think you had a teenie-weenie role in it.
2. “Stuff happens.” A literal quote.
Isn’t it time to bluntly say it? Dick Cheney was a blight on the office of the Vice Presidency — and not because of specific policies. Americans can and do differ on those.
But because seldom in the history of the United States have we seen a high elective office filled by someone who had such a patently anti-democratic view of public service — that he was above political polls, above elections and could do whatever he wanted because he held the power. Future historians will sift out precisely what his role was in the administration but here’s a prediction: it’ll be more extensive than how extensive it is already perceived to have been.
Perhaps it’s because Cheney’s political career was centered in a district where he didn’t really have to worry about winning elections (it was a given) so to hell with what pesky voters who disagree thought. But his attitude towards power was coupled with a dismissive concept of responsibility. True, he gave the country someone at the top who was preparing for worst case scenarios — and that was a useful role. But his contemptuous attitude towards the concept of responsibility to public opinion and responsibility for the results of his actions — or inactions — is one that hopefully Democrats, independents and Republicans will never ever again allow to be so close to America’s levers of power again.
On this Sunday here’s something to be truly thankful for: that Dick Cheney never became President.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.