Another memorable scene of the inner workings of the Bush White House unfolded yesterday in the federal courthouse where former vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby is on trial.

This one is particularly significant because it gives credence to the widespread view that Vice President Cheney oversees his own intensely secretive, highly defensive and sometimes ruthless operation within the White House -- and that he does so with President Bush's approval, but often outside the view of Bush's top aides.

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As Laura Rozen recently wrote in the Washington Monthly: "He has long surrounded himself with impeccably loyal aides who both share his worldview of a powerful presidency unchecked by the legislative branch, and who have also installed like-minded allies throughout the government. Such allies provide crucial intelligence of inter-departmental debates, enabling Cheney to make end-runs around the bureaucracy and head off opposing views at key meetings. Call it Cheney's state within the state."

The vice president's devotion to secrecy extends so far that he doesn't even want anyone to know how many people work for him, or who they are.

It's interesting that at the beginning of Clinton's presidency, there was speculation that because of the close relationship they had forged in the election, and Clinton's apparent desire to give Gore more responsibility than is usual for a Vice President, the Clinton-Gore Administration would be something close to a co-Presidency. It didn't quite turn out that way, as Gore started to distance himself from Clinton when Clinton's personal problems started to mount. Now, it turns out that the Bush-Cheney relationship is much more like a co-Presidency than Clinton-Gore ever was, except that in the current case the Vice President is arguably the stronger and more powerful half.

I'm going to try to keep this in mind once Bush is out of office, because one way to salvage Bush's historical reputation is to blame all the bad stuff on Cheney. It'll be interesting to see if Bush's admirers (those that are left) and Poppy's people use that particular tack in renovating Bush's rep.

[Thanks to Romaine]

P.S. Before the trial began, an online acquaintance of mine predicted that one of its results would be the indictment of Cheney. I didn't think that was probable then, and I think it's even less probable now.