In an article today by Joan Walsh, editor in chief at Salon.Com, she wrote a piece praising President Obama’s “the buck stops with me” address to the Press yesterday.
She contrasted Obama’s humble self assessment to the swagger and default blame absolution of the Bush administration.
And on that issue she is correct in my opinion. However, I believe she glossed over the President’s falling on his sword moment.
If Obama’s buck has any meaningful value, the first thing he needs to do is fire Janet Napolitano.
We all remember the day John McCain lost the race for the White House. It was when he stated that the fundamentals of the American economy was still strong against a backdrop of a plunging stock market,and the bankruptcy/collapse of Lehmann Bros and Bear Stearns. That was the turning point. He lost his credibility and cemented that loss by choosing Ms IQ to be his running mate.
The same with Napolitano. To declare just days after the attempted Christmas day bombing that “the system worked” was a catastrophic error, no matter how much backpedaling and damage limitation control went into action immediately afterwards.
To be clear, I do not think she is personally responsible for the total screw up of the intelligence agencies, but for her remarks in an attempt to gloss over those screw ups. Her job is not to serve as a cover up marketing director, but to guide the Homeland Security Department through some very choppy waters.
She needs to be fired precisely because the buck stops with Obama. He is faced with probably the easiest firing decision he will have to make. If he does not do that, then not only has Napolitano lost credibility, but the President too.
