Yes, it's an intentionally provocative headline. But hear me out.

We usually conflate Dick Cheney's constitutional self-aggrandizement and law-breaking with the fact that he's an extremely influential force in the Bush administration. But they're two distinct realities. And for the moment I'd like to set the first aside to focus on the second, to consider whether we may be looking at a trend.

Vice President Cheney's clout within the Bush administration is heavily tied to the fact that the he early -- and quite credibly because of his medical history -- disavowed any plans to seek the presidency in his own right. We're in the midst of a four decade trend toward more and more powerful and influential vice-presidents (in the sense of clout not constitutional prerogative). But the big brake on the veep's role in decision-making has always been the fact that everyone else who wants to be president someday has a strong interest in keeping his power in check. Since Jimmy Carter picked Walter Mondale in 1976 you can see these two dimensions of the veep's modern role in constant tension -- whether with Mondale or Bush or Gore. And the Cheney model, to a significant degree, resolved that tension.

Joe Biden is 66. And he'll turn 74 a few days after the 2016 November election. Nothing's for certain these days. But I think that puts him at the outer edge of the envelope of age range in which you can credibly run for president. So I suspect it will become clear, sooner rather than later that Biden does not plan to run for president again.

There are other factors of course. Whether you think it's intelligence or experience or just lack of work ethic, there's been a vacuum of presidential heft in which Cheney's clout and influence have been able to expand. I doubt Biden's and Obama's relationship will be the same. But I do think there are more similarities between Biden and Cheney -- in the sense of the Senior Counselor model of the vice presidency -- than a lot of us realize.