Posted on 02/26/2005 6:55:39 AM PST by Pokey78
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY IS adamant about not running for president in 2008. Asked by host Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday if he might change his mind, Cheney answered with a firm no. "I've got my plans laid out," he said. "I'm going to serve this president for the next four years, and then I'm out of here. . . . In 2009, I'll be 68 years old. And I've still got a lot of rivers I'd like to fish and time I'd like to spend with my grandkids, and so this is my last tour. I don't plan to run for anything."
And that wasn't all. Cheney said a primary reason he has influence with Bush is that he has pledged not to run. His ability to serve the president, he said, "depends upon my ability not to have any agenda other than his agenda. I made it clear when I took the job that I had no aspirations to run for president myself, that I wanted to be part of the team. And it's worked very effectively." If he were running, he'd have to worry now "about what the precinct committeeman in Ottumwa, Iowa, is going to think about me in January of '08." Since that's not the case, Cheney said, he's free to "offer my advice based on what's best from the standpoint of the president and his program and what we're trying to achieve now."
As professions of lack of interest in the presidency go, Cheney's is unusually
But there's a larger reason Cheney should seek to succeed Bush. In all likelihood, the 2008 election, like last year's contest, will focus on foreign policy. The war on terror, national security, and the struggle for democracy will probably dominate American politics for a decade or more. Bush's legacy, or at least part of it, will be to have returned these issues to a position of paramount concern for future presidents. And who is best qualified to pursue that agenda as knowledgeably and aggressively as Bush? The answer is the person who helped Bush formulate it, namely Cheney.
There's one other person who has been as important as the vice president in helping the president shape that agenda, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She could be an attractive candidate, but she has shown no interest in running for public office. Rice was once introduced to Arnold Schwarzenegger as "the next governor of California." She declined to run, however, and of course he got the job in 2003. Last year, Rice had the opportunity to run for the U.S. Senate from California. Again, she declined. If she decided to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, she would face the distinct disadvantage of being a first-time candidate.
What about John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Bill Frist, and other Republicans who are thinking about running? They don't come close to Cheney in foreign policy know-how or decision-making experience. That's not to denigrate them. McCain has emphasized foreign and military affairs in his Senate career and is an able spokesman for a Bush-style foreign policy. Giuliani is no slouch on the subject of the terrorist threat. But who would generate the most public confidence as commander in chief? Cheney, for sure. On domestic issues as well--particularly taxes and energy--he can match any of the likely Republican candidates.
The main rap I've heard on Cheney is that he lacks the charisma to get elected. This is nonsense. So what if he can be characterized as Bush without the pizzazz? Cheney has what's far more important--gravitas. He's a man who's taken seriously as a national leader by everyone here and abroad. Voters aren't stupid. They know that gravitas trumps charisma in choosing a president in a foreign policy era.
The other question about Cheney as a presidential candidate is how he gets out of his vow not to run. That's easy. In the final two years of Bush's second term, the president will be a lame duck whose agenda has been exhausted. There will still be foreign policy issues on the table, true. But that will entail the playing out of policies that Bush, with Cheney's help, developed in his first term. So Bush will be in a position to anoint a successor. If
I don't know if Bush, two years from now, will actually want to choose a successor, someone to carry on his policies. It's possible his presidency and his signature issues may have soured by then. But I doubt it. So imagine Bush as a successful president looking to the future after he leaves office and wondering whether his accomplishments will be protected and expanded or reversed. It would be out of character for Bush to leave the selection of his successor to chance or to the whims of presidential primaries. If he says he'd like Cheney to run, my guess is Cheney would be hard-pressed to say no.
Are you kidding me? The main rap on Cheney is that he has a marginal circulatory system.
A Cheney candidacy will give the 'rats the vapors.
If true, Kerry who has neither would have collected only about the 30% or so of the Kool-Aid drinking popular vote, not 48%.
I love Cheney (him and Rummy are our current times Marshall and Truman IMHO), but I do not believe he has the vigor and the physical stamina to run for President. He has served us with distinction, Fred, let him go fly fishing.
Owl_Eagle
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"
Cheney-Rice ticket in 2008?
Agreed.
Yeah, as much as I admire Cheney, I don't see him running for '08.
I was hoping for Jasmin-Rice or perhaps Longgrain-Rice or maybe even Rice-Pilaf.
If something goes seriously wrong somewhere in the world
and we're drawn into a bitter conflict,
I could see Cheney as the only real choice...
not for political reasons, but for national survival ones.
I don't know if I could stand another election where Halliburton is mentioned 24/7. Cheney would make a good president, I would love to see the liberals scream! :D
fat white men are in low demand for any political office today due to the hollywoodization of politics.
governor wilson of california appointed a fat white man as u.s. senator and he lost the next election to a photogenic female democrat.
I have it on a good souce (DUmmieland) that Chenney is resigning next month and Condi is taking over.
... What about John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Bill Frist, and other Republicans who are thinking about running?...
Twenty per centers at best. The Hellbeast will devour them.
Cheney, on the other hand , is a real man. He could bring me back to the republican party.
If he chooses not to run, the GOP had better find a strong young horse, perhaps Mike Pence. I'm beginning to hear more of him and have heard nothing yet I couldn't support.
Cheney/Rice is the ace in the hole should things get dicier in the next three years.
Other than that it looks like some combination of Rice, Allen, or Romney.
And to continue the betting thought, www.tradesports.com has Cheney at 2.0 as the Rep. nominee, which is 20 cents a contract on a scale of $0.00 to $10.00.
So it's somewhat ironic that a sitting VP is generally a shoo-in for his party's presidental nomination - it's not that good a credential for winning election, necessarily.
Every administration puts out pious platitudes about how much its VP does - and everyone understands that that is nonsense; presidents don't even like the idea of VP any more than people like to write their own wills. But with Cheney, no one doubts that it is true.
Our republican tradition is that a person's ability and energy, and not his family, determines what office he will or will not attain. If we were true to that code, we Republicans would nominate a person who
Their timing is off. Half way though term two is more likely.
Cheney/Rice in 2008 sure has a sweet sound to it, but alas I doubt if it is to be.
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