Cheney, You Magnificent Bastard…by John Allen

Dick Cheney is the only Republican putting up a fight against President Obama and the Democrats and he has single-handedly turned the issue of torture against them. They thought they had a winning issue to hurt Republicans with, but now they are the ones being hurt by it. President Obama thought he could release the “torture” memos (against the objections of the CIA) and float the idea of prosecuting Bush administration officials for their role in authorizing torture. He thought he would get the moral high ground and all of the media adoration for being so much more thoughtful and moral than Bush.

Cheney wasn’t having it. He called Obama’s bluff and demanded that other memo’s detailing the success of enhanced interrogation techniques be released by Obama. Obama quickly backed away from talk of prosecuting anyone for “torture”. President Obama knows that if he can maintain the fiction that enhanced interrogation techniques don’t work, then the public will believe that what the CIA did was totally unnecessary and gratuitous.

But if, as appears to be the case, it is shown that these interrogation techniques were successful then the public has to now weigh their use vs potentially saving thousands of lives. Most Americans will say go ahead and waterboard a scumbag terrorist if it could save innocent American lives. But, Obama has already painted himself into a corner with this one by saying that he absolutely would not authorize the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. So, if word got out that these techniques were successful, many Americans would ask why Obama wouldn’t use them even in rare, extreme circumstances in order to save lives. It makes Obama look like he isn’t willing to do whatever it takes to protect Americans. Obama loses this argument and he knows it. That’s why he now wants no part of prosecutions or show trials.

President Obama has also been stung by the criticism from Cheney that he has made America less safe. His first instinct was to release the photos of American soldiers abusing prisoners. He wasn’t going to fight the court order to release them. He showed no concern for what it would mean for the safety of American troops. It would probably enrage Muslims and inflame an already dangerous situation for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it gave Obama another chance to embarrass Bush and Cheney.

It was only after two weeks of public criticism (with Cheney leading the charge) and pushback from the Pentagon did Obama reverse course and fight the release of the photos. He now, obviously, feels vulnerable on the charge that he is making America less safe. Cheney is definitely in this guy’s head.

And look what Cheney has done to Nancy Pelosi. He and others have kept beating the drum to alert everyone that Democrats and Nancy Pelosi knew all about the enhanced interrogation techniques. Pelosi has twisted herself in knots denying that she knew about it, but it is clear she is desperately now trying to save her own skin. She gave perhaps the worst press conference I have ever seen on Thursday. It was a disaster that ultimately ended with her claiming that the CIA lied to her.

There is now mounting pressure on her to step down as Speaker of the House. Republicans should keep hammering away at her and calling for her to give up the Speakership. It may work or it may not, but she will at least be weakened and it will make for some awesome campaign commercials for 2010.

And imagine if you are a Democrat. You are now looking at a scenario where Cheney, Rove, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith and even President Bush will get through this “torture” business scott-free and the only person who might pay a price for it is Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat. And not just any Democrat, but the Speaker of the House.

The left would go absolutely ballistic. Good. Imagine the position this puts President Obama in. He either has to sit by and watch his party’s leader in Congress go down in flames and have the MoveOn, Daily Kos, Code Pink crowd livid with him or he has to support her and, therefore, go up against his own CIA (basically agreeing with her that they lied).

And if Pelosi takes a fall for this, the left will be rabid in their demand for revenge. The pressure on Obama to prosecute Bush officials will be enormous. And, if he does it, he will further polarize the country and squander any hope he had of “bringing the country together”.

Republicans should just keep the heat on Pelosi and use her as a wedge between Obama and his base or Obama and the CIA. It’s his choice. And it’s not a good one.

To paraphrase George C. Scott in Patton: Cheney, you magnificent bastard!