And If You Did Know?

I am sitting here thinking about the remarks made by Senator Kerry during the last debate that has drawn so much heat about the Vice President’s daughter. It seems that one of the questions asked of the candidates by the moderator, Bob Sheifer, was about whether homosexuality was a choice. The president, in his usual shape shifting way, side stepped the question. However, Kerry talked it not being a choice and brought up Mary Cheney as an example. Afterward Lynn Cheney, the vice president’s wife chastised Kerry saying that he had done it for political reasons. Well of course he did, but it seemed to me that it was the in the vein of showing that there are few absolutes. It seemed to me that he was saying that there are many people who have faced the truth of their sexuality and have realized that they are who they are. It further seemed to me that he was pointing out that the vice president has dealt with his issues around his daughter’s way of life and is more accepting than perhaps his wife.

I have some difficulty with the vice president and his business choices and his political choices. I think he has developed the capability to put his business or political interests ahead of being a citizen of the world, and for this I do not think he belongs in a powerful position over which he has so much control over people’s lives. However, I do think he is a brave man to have accepted his daughter and her life style. It takes a great deal of courage to face your own feelings and deal with them in order to accept other’s choices. To have accepted his daughter and not tried to hide from her shows integrity and courage. I admire this about Vice President Cheney. It does however require that I look at him in a different way. Perhaps he has become adept at separating his private life from his professional life. It seems that in his personal life he shows great compassion and courage, while it seems that in his professional life he is ruthless and driven. This is a conundrum. I think it takes tremendous personal introspection to accept other’s as they truly are. I think it takes time, effort, and a willingness to look beyond our own perspective and see that others have every right to be who they are. So I see that Vice President Cheney has done a great deal of personal work to get where he is with this. I admire him for it. It does make me wonder why he does not seem to use this same type of introspection around his role as vice president. I do acknowledge that I only know him through the media, and that this type of information is usually skewed one way or the other, so I need to give consideration that it is not always unbiased or fair. I do however think that he has done enough to harm our environment and our international reputation to warrant my distrust of him politically. Having decided our energy policy behind closed doors, with energy insiders who have monetary interests at stake, and seemingly without acknowledging that it was not ethical shows a lack of ethics. To have constantly insisted that Saddam and Al Quida had ties when all of the evidence directly contradicts it. To have helped Halliburton win no-bid contracts in Iraq, especially when he is still getting money from them. To have consistently spewed the party line when it is obvious that it is based on lies and half-truths. All of these make me question him as a vice president. But I do have to admire his loyalty to his daughter.

In conclusion it says to me that like all of us the vice president is an enigma. While I respect him as a father and a person, I do not appreciate him as a vice president.