Cheney took advantage of Bush's disinterest for detail

For the last few days, the Washington Post has been running a four-part series on the unprecedentedly powerful role that the Vice President has played in this Administration.  Today, the Post took a look at why Dick Cheney was able to exert his power to the fullest extent?  Quite simply, George W. Bush is not a student of detail, and was more than willing to defer power to the Vice president.  Unfortunately though, if someone else controls what the President is told, that makes the messenger the most powerful in the Administration:

"Dick's major concern, one of them was, and I agree, that thereneeds to be a greater and more effective role for the vice president,"Marsh, a longtime Cheney friend, said in an interview. "He holds theview, as do I, that the vice president should be the chief of staff ineffect, that everything should run through his office."

In Bush, Cheney found the perfect partner. The president'swillingness to delegate left plenty of room for his moredetail-oriented vice president.

"My impression is that the president thinks that the Reagan style ofleadership is best -- guiding the ship of state from high up on themast," said former White House lawyer Bradford A. Berenson. "It seems to me that the vice president is more willing to get down in the wheelhouse below the decks."

Cheney was really the one guiding the ship, not Bush:

Scores of interviews with advisers to the president and vice president,as well as with other senior officials throughout the government, offera backstage view of how the Bush White House operates.  The president is "the decider," as Bush puts it, but the vice president often serves up his menu of choices.

This is like a voluntary coup de tat.   George W. Bush gave up power that President's are supposed to have, reducing his own role, and making Dick Cheney the brains behind Executive Branch policy.