Uneasy Rhetoric

According to the Washington Times (yeah, requires reg), Bob Woodward expects the 2008 presidential campaign to be a race between Dick Cheney and Hillary Clinton. I won’t go in to the pros and cons of an H. Clinton campaign right now, but Cheney?

Bob, I don’t care if you are the Watergate journalist, you’re wrong. Cheney will either choose not to run or he will not survive the Republican primary.

More important even than the fact that Cheney has said several times (although not lately?) that he will not run is the fact that he is a terrible top-of-the-ticket candidate. Cheney has none of the qualities that made W an attractive candidate to many voters. He isn’t a people person. He isn’t a good ‘ole boy. He would find himself hard pressed to let loose the old-style corporate conservative mantle for a born-again one. You don’t look at Cheney and say “I’d like to go fishin’ and pal around with that guy.” What’s more, I seriously doubt Cheney could command nearly the number of swing voters W did. What is an annoying and self-satisfied smirk in W is an outright condescending sneer in Cheney. If there’s one thing American voters don’t like, it’s someone talking down to them.

Cheney knows all of this. He knows that he is not the best hope for the Republicans to maintain control of the White House. He would probably put himself in the VP role again, if he could.

Given all of this, maybe what I should be saying is Run Dick! Run!