Hunting Cheney

By now it's more than likely you have heard about Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident in Texas. What at first seemed a mere, at some times amusing misfortune (David Letterman joked, "We can't get bin Laden but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney") soon became much more tragic as we learned that Harry Whittington, the man Cheney shot, suffered from a mild heart attack. The accident became even more somber as Americans finally started to question Cheney's controversial and secretive behavior.\nAs a nation already looked down upon for our treatment of war prisoners in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the fact that our second-in-command takes pride in killing animals does not aid in our effort to prove our compassion. \nNor does it help that during a time when the Bush administration is continually being attacked for its secretive policies like the warrantless spying program, it took Cheney 24 hours to opt to speak to the press about the incident. Cheney, a man who rejects any mention of the words "transparency" and "government" in the same sentence, also delayed any explanation of the accident -- even to the Boss himself. The case serves to reinforce the public's opinion that the administration is a secretive and controlling power.\nOf course, there are also parallels between Cheney's trigger-happy hunting incident and the administration's dealings in Iraq. Cheney, a man who often fires before aiming, stated in August 2002 that there was "no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." He was fanatical in linking Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda to Sept. 11, 2001. Finally, he was determined to persuade the administration that a war was the only solution.\nWith all his hunting experience -- birds, duck, quail and whatnot -- one would think Cheney would know to aim before he fires. Of course, the shooting was an accident. But is it an accident when the U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000, when adequate help is still not being provided to the thousands affected by Hurricane Katrina or when hundreds of thousands of people are dying in Darfur, Sudah, while government officials say they are doing everything they can?\nCheney, a man whose most trusted aide is Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff who was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice, is increasingly stirring up anger among both moderates and liberals. A man who has been known to pull the trigger on a lot of things, his political actions and decisions have been markedly off target. \nWith the latest CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll showing Bush's approval rating at just 39 percent, the president cannot afford to have such a dangerous and dour figure in the White House. From the administration's conduct of the war to its ill-contrived response to Katrina, Cheney's hunting accident could impact the nation's already low perceptions of our political leaders. From this point forward, whenever we hear the name Dick Cheney, an image of a man clad in a bright orange vest pointing his gun at the wrong target will forever linger in the public consciousness. \nCheney has only grown more suspicious, more spooky and further above the law in recent years. Even Bush's aides confirm that the president has become less inclined to go to Cheney for advice. Often caricatured as Darth Vader, Cheney no longer seems so all-powerful and instead simply serves as a sad reminder of all the things that have gone wrong in the White House. It's time for him to pack his bags.