By Paola Fernandez
Dick Cheney, former Vice President of the United States and daughter Liz Cheney, public speaker, visited the Renaissance Esmeralda in Indian Wells for the 20th season of the Desert Town Hall’s Youth Ambassador Program (YAP).
Dick Cheney photo by Denny Keat.
Around one hundred and fifty students from several high schools in the Coachella Valley gathered in the Valencia Room to listen to these public figures talk about their life encounters. The father and daughter duo began the evening by talking about the memoir they wrote together, “In my time,” by Dick Cheney and co-written by Liz Cheney. Mr. Cheney was inspired by a sword he kept which his great grandfather carried throughout four years during the Civil War. He said he wanted to leave something for his family to have which represented his greatest accomplishments in life. “Maybe I ought to write a book,” he said, and with the help of his daughter Liz Cheney he was able to do so. He also encouraged the students in the room to be active in their community.
“I hope some of you will take an active interest in pursuing public service,” said Cheney “You can serve in the military, you can serve in public office, you can serve in education. There are a lot of different ways that you can make a contribution to our nation.”
His daughter Liz Cheney emphasized the importance of family values. “If you’ve got grandparents that are still around sit and ask them about their lives because everybody has amazing stories,” said Liz Cheney. Much like her father, she also advocated that students “get involved” and participate in their community. “When I had the chance to be an election observer in Kenya and Uganda, I watched government soldiers at the polling places chase voters away with machetes because they didn’t want people to vote. They were worried that their party would lose power,” said Liz Cheney. “Two or three hours after the soldiers left people would start getting back in line, they were very determined to cast their vote,” said Cheney in amazement. “This story reminds me of how important it is that we all value our ability to participate.”
In the question and answer portion of the evening, one of the many young ambassadors present in the room asked Mr. Cheney about his firsthand experience dealing with such a catastrophic event like 9/11. “That morning I was in my office in the White House with my Chief Speech Writer preparing a speech that I had to give a few days later and my secretary called to tell us that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York,” said Cheney. “We had trouble trying to understand how that could have happened. It was a beautiful day; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The moment we watched the second plane hit the second tower, is when we realized that it was a terrorist attack.” A few minutes after watching the televised terrorist attack, Cheney was quickly escorted out of his office by his secret service agent after having received news that there was an unidentified high jacked aircraft headed towards “crown” which he said was code word for White House. When being asked by one of the students about the two GOP front runners Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, Dick Cheney answered abruptly “I have not endorsed any candidates and I don’t plan to do so tonight.”
Both father and daughter were highly critical of President Obama’s health care plan, and other decisions he has made during his presidency. Another issue Mr. Cheney discussed was the budget cuts that are being made in defense spending. In line with his neo-conservative views, Cheney expressed a negative outlook on these cuts. “There is no strategic reason at this point why we ought to be doing it,” said Cheney in reference to the cuts on defense spending. “We need to preserve the finest national security forces in the world.”
The Desert Town Hall’s Youth Ambassador Program will also be presenting:
David Brooks, Author and New York Times Columnist on Sunday, February 12
Robert Gates, Former Secretary of Defense on Monday, March 5
Bob Ballard, Oceanographer who discovered the Titanic on Thursday, April 5