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July
25, 2002 8:45 a.m. |
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ecent
reporting has it that the vice president has been invisible lately owing
to his lawyers who counsel silence in the face of the SEC investigation
of his former firm, Halliburton. According to New York's Daily News,
the president would like to have Cheney available to make his administration's
case on the economy, corporate corruption, and any other old thing that
inquiring minds might want to know, but has reluctantly approved the grounding
of his wingman. That's a mistake. Is there a political figure in recent
memory who benefited from taking his lawyers' strictly legal advice when
caught in the middle of a political storm? Now is the time for all good
men to come to the aid of their party.
Dick Cheney happens to be the most reassuring figure in an administration badly in need of an authoritative, reassuring figure. He is nimble with the media. Sure, if he joins Tim on Sunday morning he'll be asked about the SEC investigation and about the mega-bucks he made at Halliburton. So he handles those three or four questions and moves on. Q: "Do you think your old firm will be cleared of wrongdoing by the SEC?" A: "I don't want to say anything about the matter to avoid being accused of trying to influence the SEC's important work in any way." He insists that he won't comment about the former, and that he ran a successful company. I, for one, share the president's view that Dick Cheney can handle hostile assaults. (Remember that wonderful debate moment when Cheney instantly offered to help Joe Lieberman achieve financial success by putting him in the private sector?)
Dick Cheney's absence from the scene hasn't kept both issues out of the news, and it's unlikely he would look more defensive on air than he does in absentia.
The Daily News reports that the vice president's lawyers are cautious types who are pursuing "a sound legal strategy," according to a source close to Cheney. An administration official declares, "The Halliburton thing is a nothingburger." He adds, however, that until it's gone, the vice president has to be careful. The Halliburton controversy does seem to be a "nothingburger" served up by the Democrats, but, as a result, they have taken out Dick Cheney and that's not nothing.