Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: March 21, 2004 - March 27, 2004 Archives: "(Bear in mind that top White House aides have told the press that the president personally initiated and is directing this campaign against Clarke. Not outside rabble-rousers, not nefarious aides operating on their own account, but the president himself. This is all his doing, according to his own staffers.)"

I wish Josh had some cites here. I would like to know for sure that staffers are saying this. I don't find it that hard to believe, but still.

If true, then it is bad. Sorry, but this doesn't sound like leadership. I have argued elsewhere that the President could have shown great leadership after 9-11 by doing a Truman and stating that whatever the problems were, the buck stopped with him. He ultimately was responsible--not in the way that the conspiracy people would say--he didn't intend it to happen or just twiddle his thumbs, but a real leader would have taken responsibility. Same with the Niger story that ended up in the outing to Valerie Plame. When faced with the fact that his SOTU speech included false information, what did our leader do? He could have taken responsibility for that too. He could have said that regardless of the reasons, he was ultimately responsible for the material. Instead, he blamed Tenet. He said that the CIA had cleared it.

That ain't leadership. And he isn't a leader.