Dick Cheney, rather, acts by acting. That is, in a way, his legacy. The simple insight that power need not be popular.... That you don't need to be transparent or well-liked or broadly trusted. What you need is a hand on the levers of power. Let others argue. You can act.
The problem, however, is that if you act alone, your impact is not durable. It can be undone. Cheney didn't build -- didn't even seem interested in building -- consensus around his vision. He forged on even as the public turned angrily against him. In the short-term, that allowed him to avoid significant compromise with the trends in public opinion. In the long-run, it rendered his achievements fragile once they lost their protector.
And so now Cheney is in an unexpected position. He is without agencies to direct or armies to control. But he cannot bear to see his policies unwound. The consummate inside player is forced into an outside game. But there is no outside game. Barack Obama controls the levers of power. And no one knows better than Cheney what that means. It means that Obama can act. All Cheney can do is argue.
He's on the outside now, looking in.
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