Erick Erickson at Redstate has had the privilege of having a farewell lunch of sorts with the outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney.

This is about him — about Dick Cheney, the great, private conservative leader who whispers in the President’s ears. The untold story of this administration, and one that I asked him about with very little success at getting an answer (to be honest, my question was poorly formed as it is a difficult topic), is that Cheney has been the great conservative influence at the White House.

If this was in fact the case over the last eight years (and we have no reason to doubt the veracity of the claim) then Dick Cheney failed miserably in his role as chief conservative adviser to the president. By all objective measures this administration has been an absolute trainwreck for conservative policy, aspirations and opportunities. If Dick Cheney was the man behind the scenes keeping Dubya on the level when it came to conservative policies then I have to believe one of two things is true: either the man doesn’t have the foggiest idea of what being a conservative even means or his influence with our socialist president has been grossly overstated.

The bulk of Erick’s commentary is about foreign policy, the one area where on the surface it would appear some success was attained by this administration. But let’s look deeper shall we? What has been done about North Korea? Has Syria been dealt with? Iran? Do we have a Russia policy or a confused set of post-cold war gibberish? After eight years why have we failed to finish the job in Afghanistan? These may seem like unfair questions since Cheney rightly points out that after 9/11 there was not another major terrorist attack on our soil. That was a great success, but they are supposed to protect US citizens, you don’t get kudos for doing the basic requirements of your job.

The war in Iraq notwithstanding this administration has been incredibly timid when it comes to taking on potential threats. The Obama administration will inherit a nuclear North Korea, a Syria that is still trying to acquire nuclear weapons and certainly still possess Iraqi stockpiles of chemical warheads, Iran which is still working feverishly towards nuclear weapons and will get them during the next four years, Pakistan on the verge of destruction and descent into Islamic radicalism with no contingency plan for the numerous nuclear warheads it possesses and a war in Afghanistan that should have been over years ago but for enormous military and intelligence incompetence. Not only that but the CIA and State Department are both just as dysfunctional and incompetent as the day Bush first took office if not more so.

Finally and most importantly, Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are all still alive and free. This is just not good enough after 8 years, not by a long shot. This does not qualify as a successful eight years of foreign policy.

Dick Cheney may have some redeeming qualities as a conservative, but foreign policy and advising the president are certainly not among them.