Unapologetic Obama Claims 'buck Stops with Me,' but Refuses to Fire Anyone in Lack of Accountability

An unapologetic Obama claims "the buck stops with me," but, suspiciously, refuses to fire anyone in a lack of accountability over the Christmas Day intelligence screwup and subsequent terrorism attempt. At a press conference to update the nation on what went wrong, Obama instead spread the blame out evenly over many agencies in order to conceal who's really at fault. The irrecoverable problem with this approach is since no one in the government is held accountable for failure, there's no motivation to do better next time and improve.

Obama tried to pass himself off as a slightly more "tough" on terror president, using the actual word "war"-Wow, really?!!-to describe the terror fight, a complete rarity for him. However, I'm not taken by his blatant trickery, and I think it's merely yet another cold, calculating decision from a poll-reading, Democrat president who realizes his poll numbers will descend even further than they already have due to Obamacare if he doesn't put on a facade of "toughness" at this point.

Moreover, I remain unconvinced that Obama's so-called vow to correct the problems actually means anything more than politically expedient-but-ultimately-empty rhetoric from a badly damaged president. I say this based on the, as usual, totally general and unspecific nature of what he promises to fix. In example, when Obama brags that he'll ensure "wider and quicker distribution of intelligence reports," how does he honestly intend to accomplish that when the CIA has a file on the Detroit terrorist, yet refuses to share it with agencies at home?! Or when Obama brags that there'll be an "interagency effort to develop next-generation airport screening technologies"...what the hell does that exactly mean?! Does Obama mean that something out of Star Wars will be implemented at airports and that, perhaps, R2D2 and C3PO will personally oversee all screening from hereon out?! Obama's not telling since, as annoyingly usual for him, he merely lets people read whatever the heck they so wish in his only good-sounding promises.

I assert that accountability starts first and foremost with firing the culprits who let such a massive security breach occur in the first place because if you don't, you're just guaranteeing that it will happen again. Therefore, I think that someone ought to start enumerating exactly who failed and for what reason. Let's see...hmmmm...who could...do that...hmmmm...oh, I know! Me! In fact, I'll start very reasonably right now to begin enumerating exactly who failed and for what reason. Let's begin, shall we?!

1. Leon Panetta, Mr. I-don't-have-experience-in-the-CIA himself. Panetta is head of the agency which failed to share with other agencies the file on Adbulmutallab, the Detroit terrorist, despite having it in its possession for five weeks! This may well have stopped the attempted terror attack if the file was shared.
2. Michael Leiter, Mr. I-want-to-ski-as-long-as-I-want-to-even-if-there's-a-terror-attack himself. Leiter is the undutiful rogue who refused to immediately return to his post as the head of the NCTC after being informed of the attempted terror attack. Here's a Fox and Friends discussion on the matter:

3. John Brennan, Mr. I-recklessly-approved-Leiter's-decision-to-stay-on-the-ski-slopes himself. Brennan admitted that he told Leiter that "he should go out there" even after the terror attempt news had broken. I've been investigating this Brennan fellow over the last several days, and what I found on him is not pretty. This just confirms that.

Well, there you have it, folks. Methinks that the above three should be canned immediately as a way of demonstrating accountability and a culture where such lapses won't be tolerated again. If Obama says, "the buck stops with me," then he should be prepared to demonstrate this beyond words and with actual action. Otherwise, it's still a lack of accountability for him to simply tolerate the same people to remain in their jobs who've already blatantly failed. Mr. Obama, won't you listen to me and fire these three?

To send Marc questions, praise or criticism, you can email him at marc_schenker@telus.net.

Additional Reading: Barack Obama Top Ten Bloopers of 2009, Scandal-Plagued Democrat Chris Dodd Retires at Lowest Point in Career, Was Max Baucus Drunk During His Senate Floor Speech?

Sources:

Ben Feller, Obama says anti-terror "buck" stops with him, AP

Obama Approval Index History, Rasmussen

Lack of Specifics From Obama May Generate Selling Pressure, TradingMarkets.com

Rob Quinn, CIA Had File on Detroit Bomber for a Month, Didn't Share, Newser.com

James Gordon Meek, NCTC director Michael Leiter remained on sky slopes after Christmas Day airline bombing attempt, DailyNews.com

Kendra Marr, Brennan approved the vacation, Politico