Cheney Attacks

It's difficult not to notice Dick Cheney defending torture. Just last night, for example, Keith Olbermann asked his guest, Larry Wilkerson, why Cheney is on the warpath. Lots of people are asking. And it's interesting to speculate. My take is that Cheney has figured out that Mr. Obama isn't capable of fighting back, so he's pushing him around simply because he can. Part of it, of course, is logical self-protection: Cheney sees that Mr. Obama caves before any and every establishment interest, and while Cheney knows that the U.S. establishment isn't going anywhere soon on the torture question (indeed, Mr. Obama seems quite happy to retain most Bush administration policies regarding detainees and to conveniently forget about the laws that have been broken), Cheney also knows that an international consensus is brewing to the effect that some kind of punishment for past misdeeds may well be appropriate and that this is exactly the sort of process with which Mr. Obama is likely to compromise. To fend off the bad news it makes sense to go on the offense. But more than that, clearly Cheney enjoys jabbing at an inert — and quite possibly empty — suit.