Vice President Cheney charged Sunday morning on CNN that President Obama is using the recession “to try to justify” what is probably the largest expansion of federal authority “in the history of the Republic.”

“I worry a lot that that they’re using the current set of economic difficulties to try to justify a massive expansion in the government, and much more authority for the government over the private sector,” Cheney said in his first television interview since leaving office. “I don’t think that’s good. I don’t think that’s going to solve the problem.”

Speaking to host John King on “State of the Union,” Cheney said he think the programs Obama has proposed “in health care, in energy and so forth constitute probably the biggest – or one of the biggest – expansions of federal authority over the private economy in the history of the Republic.”

“I worry very much that what is being done here is saying, ‘We’ve got an economic crisis, there’s we’re fundamentally the health program in America,'”Cheney said. “I don’t think that’s right.”

Cheney has been largely out of sight for the past two months, as he and his wife, Lynne, set up their new home in Northern Virginia. But as he was in a recent interview with POLITICO, Cheney is still free with his opinions and much more aggressive in defending the administration’s legacy than President Bush has been so far.

ECONOMY: 

Mr. Cheney, who said he has spoken on the phone three times with former President Bush since leaving office, also shrugged off accusations that their administration is responsible for the deteriorating economy. Describing the recession as a global financial problem, he called Mr. Obama’s repeated blaming of the Bush administration for the economic crisis “interesting rhetoric.”

Cheney pushed back against effort by Democrats to blame President Bush for the current economic valley, saying the Bush administration is not responsible “for the creation of those circumstances.”

“I think there’s no question but what the economic circumstances that he inherited are difficult ones,” Cheney said. We said that before we left. I don’t think you can blame the Bush administration for the creation of those circumstances. It’s a global financial problem.

“We had, in fact, tried to deal with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac some years before, with major reforms that were blocked by Democrats on the Hill – [House Financial Services Chairman] Barney Frank and [Senate Banking Chairman] Chris Dodd. So I think the notion that you can just sort of throw it off on the prior administration – that’s interesting rhetoric, but I don’t think anybody really cares a lot about that. What they care about is what’s going to work, and how we’re going to get out of these difficulties.”

IRAQ WAR:

Cheney told CNN’s John King the Bush administration had accomplished “nearly everything we set out to do” in Iraq — and took aim at a key member of the Bush diplomatic team who’s been tapped for the Obama administration.

“I think it’s my general sense of where we are with respect to Iraq at the end of now, what, nearly six years is we accomplished nearly everything we set out to do,” he said on State of the Union Sunday. He pointed to falling levels of violence, and recent democratic elections: “We have succeeded in creating in the heart of the Middle East a democratically-governed Iraq, and it is in fact what we set out to do.”

But he declined to say whether those conditions meant “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq: “I wouldn’t use that, just because it triggers reactions that we don’t need,” he said. “But I would ask people, and the press too, to take an honest look at the circumstances in Iraq today, and how far we’ve come.”

He was critical of the Obama administration’s decision to tap Chris Hill, the Bush team’s point man on North Korea, to serve as ambassador to Iraq. “He’s not the man I would have picked,” said Cheney, saying Hill “doesn’t have experience in the region, none of the skills and talents that [former ambassador] Ryan Crocker had,” adding that he would not have made that choice.

AMERICA LESS SAFE UNDER OBAMA:

The Former Vice President said he believed President Obama’s decision to eliminate the use of many of the most controversial interrogation practices used under the former administration had put the country at risk.

Asked whether he thought those moves had made the United States less safe, Cheney said he did. “I think those programs were absolutely essential to the success we enjoy, of being able to collect the intelligence that let us defeat all further attempts to launch attacks against the United States since 9/11,” he said on State of the Union. “I think it’s a great success story. It was done legally, it was done in accordance with our constitutional practices and principles…”

Obama campaigned against those practices, said Cheney, “and now he’s making some choices that in my mind will raise the risk to the American people of another attack.”

BLACKBERRY & DRIVING A CAR:

Cheney’s says he’s going high-tech with a BlackBerry and a wireless device for reading books. And he’s driving a car these days.

Such is life after eight years as vice president. Two months after leaving office, Cheney also is getting used to being out of the loop when it comes national secrets.

He doesn’t get up at 5 in the morning anymore. And he doesn’t get CIA briefings every day.

Cheney told “State of the Union” that he misses it after 40 years working in government. On the other hand, he enjoys the time he spends with his family.

About the car – the Secret Service didn’t allow Cheney to drive while he was vice president.

Nowadays, Cheney drives his own car….with the Secret Service following him.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: 

Asked about conservative talk-show icon Rush Limbaugh, Mr. Cheney downplayed the host’s recent dust-up with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele.

“Rush is a good friend. I love him. I think he does great work,” he said, adding that he would pay to see the commentator debate Mr. Obama.

(Sources: CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press)