Over the previous weeks and months the President has claimed, usually though his press secretary, he did not know details about certain events. Notably, we mention the Benghazi murders, the IRS scandal, and now the AP press subpenas of telephone records.
The White House has normally and routinely claimed no real knowledge of the events, or claimed a complete picture of the events was not clear but was under investigation. Take this word as correct, if you will. The President is very busy with more issues on a daily basis that most of us have in a lifetime. The President, collectively all of them, must delegate authority to make really high level decisions.
What conclusions can be derived? Even though the President has trusted others in trying to protect him, trying to protect his oath of office, and trying to promote a narrative favorable to him, he is the chief executive responsible only to the people. Perhaps we could conclude his confidence in others has been misplaced. Perhaps we could conclude his personnel selections have been misguided. Perhaps, we could conclude he has not been fully at the switches of his administration. This would not be the first time that underlings have failed or over-reached their duties. Even the President must implicitly trust his appointees.
However... It is incumbent upon the President to monitor, to correct, and to revise erroneous reports. He must know what his staff is doing, good and bad. He must monitor their performance. He must adjust and correct the course upon which he has set our Nation. He must not be overly involved in signature issues to the exclusion of other matters. The Presidency of the USA is a monumental job requiring the quintessential politician, philosopher, manager, and leader.
A more strident view is that the President is and has been the architect of all this: the excuses, the spin, and the valuation. Can we guess? Can we know? Can we prove? On the one hand, this is distressing, on the other depressing.
No comments:
Post a Comment