“It may be because nobody can remember the earlier vice presidents,” he told our Examiner colleague Bill Sammon in his new book, “The Evangelical President.” “I’ll let the historians worry about that.”

Still, there is no denying Cheney’s enormous influence in the White House.

“When [President Bush] recruited me into the job, he said he wanted me to be an important part of the administration and a major part of his team ­— and he’s been true to his word,” Cheney told Sammon. “I’ve enjoyed it.”

That was more than Gerald Ford had been able to say about his own vice presidency under President Nixon. Ford, who had been a mentor to Cheney, passed away in December 2006.

“He was vice president for nine months, and he told me it was the worse nine months of his life — he hated it,” Cheney said. “That hasn’t been my experience.”