27 September 2006

No winners in the blame game

The flare-up around the interview Clinton gave to Mike Chris Wallace is called a controversy for some reason. I strongly suspect that it is deliberately being made to look like one - to let the mass media have a field day. Meanwhile, left and right both claim a moral victory, and the mudslinging is at its peak.

The whole issue is not worth all the noise - it is admirably resolved by the main protagonists. Here is what Clinton says to Wallace:

So I tried and failed. When I failed, I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country, Dick Clarke, who got demoted.
So, a) a comprehensive anti-terror strategy was passed to Bush and b) Richard Clarke is the best guy in the country. Now let's listen to the best guy in the country:
Um, the first point, I think the overall point is, there was no plan on Al Qaeda that was passed from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration.
Not that the above absolves Clinton's heirs in the office of all responsibility in continued incompetence, bureaucracy and blindness. But it clearly shows that Clinton's administration is at least as guilty of these sins as Bush. Taking into account that Clinton has 8 years versus 8 months given to Bush, the fingerpointing is at least senseless.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

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