One thought about a lot of what I'm reading today in response to Richard Clarke's charges on 60 Minutes…
A lot of the response — maybe even the majority — is in the "Blame Clinton" category: The Clinton Administration had eight years. We had only 234 days. They didn't do this. They didn't do that. And so on. We've also heard the charge that Bush shouldn't be faulted for believing Iraq had Weapons of You-Know-What because Clinton did, too.
Okay, some of that's true. I think they may understate the extent to which the Clinton administration was at least aware of the al-Qaeda problem and urged that it be dealt with quickly…but let's say all that's true; that the Clinton team dropped the ball, too.
Well, so what?
If the Clinton squad was inept at protecting us from terrorism and the Bush forces were inept at protecting us from terrorism, how is that an argument in support of the latter? Clinton is not up for re-election and I don't see how what that administration did has any bearing on what a Kerry administration might do. I also don't think Bush (or any president seeking a second term) can get very far on a platform of, "A lot of things have gone wrong but they really weren't my fault." It reminds me of the old joke about the comedian who comes up on stage and says…
I had a rough time at a club the other night. The girl singer who was on before me was so bad that right in the middle of my act, they started booing her. They couldn't forget how lousy she was. Do you know that some people walked out on her while I was still performing?
The Clinton administration did a lot of things I didn't like, and they can't all be explained by the distraction of impeachment. But you know, Harry Truman had that sign on his desk — "The buck stops here." And when presidents take office, they ought to have a limited grace period to blame the guy before them…maybe 30 days on everything except the stock market. In reality, a lot of presidential actions do take months, sometimes years to have their full impact. But clearly, something like being on the lookout for terrorists and mass murderers is not one of those reponsibilities into which you can just ease yourself after you finish redecorating the Oval Office and clearing brush on your ranch.