President Bush on Monday lauded Vice President Dick Cheney for helping him govern instead of trying to succeed him and insisted he is still relevant in the sixth year of his presidency.
“I’m not through yet,” Bush told a college student who asked him to name a successor. I am going to spend 2 1/2 years charging as hard as I possibly can — I want to sprint out of office.”
Bush has refused to anoint a successor, though he said Monday that Cheney would “make a great president.” Cheney has ruled out any bid to succeed his boss.
“I’m glad my vice president is not running for president,” Bush said. “It certainly changes the dynamics inside the White House.”
By this point in most presidencies, the vice president is trying to distance himself from the boss in order to mount his own presidential bid. But White House aides say Cheney remains devoted to helping Bush prosecute the war against terror and enact the rest of the president’s agenda.
Bush said that agenda includes weaning America of its dependency on foreign oil and reforming immigration, Medicare and Social Security.
He suggested he is bracing for the inevitable questions about his own relevancy as his presidency enters its final years.
“You’re the leading edge of what’s going to happen, I know — particularly from our friends in the press corps,” he told his questioner. “My point to you is: I got a lot to do.”
