John Dean on What's at Risk When Americans Pick Our Next Vice President

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/465

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Tue, 09/23/2008 - 3:44pm. Analysis

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

The secretive and powerful Dick Cheney has expanded and compromised the office of the vice president. What would Sarah Palin do?

Dick Cheney has spent the past eight years, perhaps more, remaking the vice presidency of the United States of America. He has led the way towards establishing a "unitary executive" and has worked in many ways to expand the powers of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government. No vice president before him has wielded power in the same way or to the same extent. For most observers the first clue of this came in 2001 with Cheney's creation of a secret energy task force.

A few months from now, Cheney presumably will hand over the office of VP to a new occupant. The GOP's candidate for that office, Sarah Palin, appears to be another politician committed to secrecy and central control, judging by her record in Alaska and her campaign thus far for the vice presidency.