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The speech set off a firestorm, in part because the tinder was already piled high. There was speculation that Powell would quit; his allies leaked word that Bush had privately told Powell that Cheney had gone too far and would have to be reined in. Rice called Cheney to discuss the misinterpretation of his remarks and how to fix them. In fact, Cheney had used language not that different from some Powell had just used to say the same thing. But coming from Cheney, in a full metal jacket, the force of the comment was too strong. When Cheney gave the speech again three days later, he tweaked the language about inspectors but left nearly everything else in the speech the same. "Dick Cheney doesn't freelance," says a senior adviser to the Vice President. "He said what he did because the President wanted him to. There is no daylight between Bush and Cheney on this. None. Zero."
But the value of the speech only became visible two weeks later, when it was Bush's turn. The very fact that he actually set foot in the U.N.--Who would have guessed?--was heralded as a victory for the moderates and a big defeat for the hawks. In all the score keeping, few noticed how extraordinarily the debate had shifted. Cheney's hard line allowed Bush to appear reasonable for even consulting with the Security Council. Having purchased gratitude at such a cheap price, Bush then walloped his audience for 45 minutes, describing how the U.N. had grown weak and irrelevant, how Saddam had repeatedly made it look foolish. And he was applauded.
This episode is a case study in how Bush uses his whole choir to get the music right. Powell was able to play the public Voice of Reason who orchestrated the 15-to-0 vote in the Security Council. When some White House aides tried to bait Bush in a senior staff meeting, mentioning Powell's grandstanding, the President didn't take the hook. He understood Powell needed his place in the sun, for the future diplomatic leverage it would bring him. He didn't even make one of his trademark jokes. "He recognized the utility in it," said one who was there. As for Cheney, "He likes being the right-wing nut," says a senior Administration aide. "If you didn't have the Cheney side out there to tell the whole world 'We're studded up here and ready to go,' if you didn't announce that to the whole world, then Bush couldn't move to the other side of all that."
TWO MEN, ONE TEAM