Cheney off to Asia, troubles in tow

Vice President Dick Cheney is set to depart Monday for a weeklong trip to Asia, and many in Washington are wondering whether he might be grateful for an excuse to high-tail it out of town. The past few weeks have not been kind to the vice president -- or at least to his public image.

Last week, a close ally was dressed down by the Pentagon inspector general for skewing intelligence before the Iraq war. The trial of his former chief of staff has depicted the vice president’s office as a center of underhanded intrigue. And this week’s announcement of a nuclear agreement with North Korea appears to be a repudiation of Cheney’s long-term opposition to a deal.

Those events, culminating months of bad news for the conservative wing of the Republican Party, have prompted speculation that the once-formidable vice president -- the most powerful in American history -- has become a spent force.

But while Cheney’s public standing and his approval ratings appear to have suffered, he remains a highly visible presence when it comes to administration policy, both foreign and domestic. And the ultimate source of Cheney’s influence, his seemingly unique relationship with President Bush, shows no visible sign of change.

Mary Matalin, the former senior Cheney aide who still serves as an informal advisor, acknowledged that it might look as if he has lost a few battles in the recent past; but, she said, such public perceptions matter little.

“He doesn’t operate in the realm of winner-loser. He’s got an audience of one,” Matalin said. “The notion that he’s lost or gained relative to the audience of one is backed up by not one scintilla of evidence.”

Former aides and defenders say that Cheney was never as powerful as his critics feared, and that he is not as diminished now as critics might hope.

“Yes, there has been some ebb in his influence, but that’s part of the normal life cycle of an administration,” said Stephen Yates, a former member of the vice president’s national security staff who now works as an international business consultant. “He wasn’t 12 feet tall before, and he’s not 2 feet tall now.”

For a vice president who put a high value in keeping his profile low and his advice to the president private, Cheney has been anything but invisible.

He has long been -- and remains still -- the keeper of the conservative faith in the White House. He continues to be an outspoken defender of an administration struggling to fix the centerpiece of its foreign policy, the war in Iraq. And he seems undaunted by a public that expresses dissatisfaction with the overall direction of the country.

Several of those roles were on display Wednesday when the vice president delivered an address to the National Assn. of Manufacturers. He told the largely conservative audience that the president would veto a bill that would set rules for how workers vote for union representation -- a bill the group opposes.

Cheney also tossed a bit of conservative red meat to the crowd, noting that a snowstorm overnight had shuttered much of the city. “The good news is, the federal government’s shut down today. So everybody’s safe,” the vice president said. Cheney has held positions in the federal government for most of his adult life, but the audience laughed anyway.

To some extent, Cheney suffers from circumstances of the political calendar: He said long ago that he would not run for president, and the president he serves is a lame duck.

“Political history would say that vice presidents who have no [political] ambition become lame ducks even earlier” than their presidents, said Paul C. Light, a New York University professor who has long studied the vice presidency.

Moreover, many of Cheney’s administration soul mates are no longer on the job.

Former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld was forced to resign last fall. Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, stepped down after he was indicted on charges of lying to investigators probing a leak of classified information. Former Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton has left the administration after serving as temporary, unconfirmed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Several former Cheney aides said the vice president’s staff had lost influence within the White House. His current chief of staff, David S. Addington, does not have the same status as Libby, who held multiple positions including “assistant to the president,” which gave him a seat in more White House meetings.

And on Capitol Hill, congressional Republicans lament the departure of Cheney’s former legislative aide, Brenda Becker.

“His personal influence hasn’t diminished, but at the staff level, the office of the vice president isn’t as influential as it was,” said one former aide who was not authorized to speak about the vice president on the record.

Cheney is scheduled to visit U.S. troops stationed on the Pacific island of Guam and to pay a visit to two allies who have contributed to operations in Iraq: Japan and Australia. The White House announcement said that “the president has asked the vice president to thank these two allies for their efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

But already there are complications. News reports from Tokyo have said Cheney would not meet with Japan’s minister of defense, who has publicly criticized U.S. policy in Iraq. And in Australia, the visit may turn out to be a liability for Prime Minister John Howard, who is running for reelection. Australian polls show a strong majority disapproves of the war and Australia’s contribution to it.

In short, Cheney is unlikely to flee controversy just by leaving Washington. “He’s going to Australia. He’s going to Japan. He’s the go-to guy on the Hill,” said Matalin. “And he’s taking a lot of incoming.”

maura.reynolds@latimes.com

james.gerstenzang@latimes.com