Soccer Dad

My How Things Change

The Washington Post is reporting on John Kerry's interminable search for a Vice President. Apparently he doesn't want someone like Dick Cheney.

Cheney is figuring in Kerry's thinking. Kerry has told friends he wants a strong, loyal Democrat but not a co-president. He said that Cheney appears to have so much authority he often upstages the president, which, in turn, Kerry believes weakens the presidency.

"Cheney is the prime minister -- John would never allow that," said Richard C. Holbrooke, a Kerry friend and campaign adviser. "John has foreign policy experience. He does not need a prime minister."

In other words, President Bush isn't really a strong president; he derives his power from Dick Cheney. (If Senator Kerry doesn't want to be upstaged by his VP he really should stay away from Senator Edwards. Senator Edwards *has* a personality.)
I realize that it's a different paper, but I can say there's a similar mindset, the New York Times took a much different approach to Cheney's selection as Vice President by then Gov. Bush.("A Safe Pick is Revealing"; Richard L. Berke; July 26, 2000)

This less ambitious objective of Mr. Bush was settling on a No. 2 who
passes what Senator Bob Kerrey, Democrat of Nebraska, calls the John Rocker
test.

''It's like the Atlanta Braves and John Rocker,'' Mr. Kerrey said. ''You
can't afford to make a selection that becomes bigger than you.''

Mr. Bush's play-it-safe approach may well have stemmed from a determination
not to repeat mistakes of the past, namely his father's selection of Dan
Quayle. Again and again, his advisers said over recent months that Mr.
Bush was insistent less on bringing added value to the ticket and more
on not doing anything to hurt it.

So four years ago, Cheney was picked because he wouldn't upstage Bush; now he is upstaging Bush. Funny how things never quite work out the way you expect them to. Either that or two of America's most prominent papers go out of their way to make George Bush look weak.

Posted by SoccerDad at June 18, 2004 02:23 PM | TrackBack