It would have been newsworthy — a Road to Damascus conversion — had Cheney picked Powell over El-Rushbo as the preferred leader of the Republican Party.
Cheney told “Face the Nation” he figured Powell bolted the Republican Party after he endorsed Barack Obama for President. That high-level support gave a mighty boost to the former Illinois state senator with zippo military credentials. It also was sweet payback for Powell, the guy duped by the Bush Administration (e.g., Cheney) and used as a stooge to argue for the whacking of Iraq before the United Nations.As Republicans try to broaden their quickly shrinking base, Cheney stays true to form. He served as President Bush’s right-winger and maintains that line in “retirement.” Like Cheney or not, the guy is consistent. He may be consistently wrong, but...
Of the Republican move to moderation, Cheney said: “The suggestion our Democratic friends always make is somehow if you Republicans were just more like Democrats, you’d win elections. Well, I don't buy that. We win elections when we have good solid conservative principles to run upon.”
Team Obama should take the flip side of Cheney’s point to heart. Democrats in Congress aren’t going to generate a political groundswell by being Republican Lites. The President was elected as an agent of change. Embracing turncoats like Arlen Specter isn’t being an agent of change. It’s being an agent of political expediency.
Obama’s 100-day honeymoon with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is over. The President needs a big dose of Cheney-like certitude to get things done. Coming up with a rock solid plan to close Guantanamo, and assurances that Afghanistan is not going to turn into an Iraqi-like quagmire are places to start.
