David Ignatius has an
interesting editorial in today's WaPo, raising the point that had Bush simply agreed that more could've been done, apologized to the families, and moved on, he could've defused Clarke's allegations altogether.
Quote:
A wise president would have accepted the obvious truth of what Clarke said: that the White House didn't do all it could have before Sept. 11 to prevent that disaster. He would have apologized, as Clarke did, to the victims -- and moved on.
That kind of magnanimity could have defused Clarke's charges and showed that Bush can lead a divided country. But the White House instead smeared Clarke personally, ignored his substantive criticisms and, in the process, helped turn Sept. 11 into a political football. That's bad for the country and, I submit, bad for Bush politically.
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