For Obama, ‘the buck’ never stops

In a disturbing “60 Minutes” interview President Obama wouldn’t give a direct answer on whether he’d been surprised by the frightening rise of ISIS. Instead, he instinctively blamed an underling, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who supposedly had “underestimated” the terrorist group.

Obama also claimed he left that Iraq in good shape, with a strong army, when he brought home American troops, fingering Prime Minister Maliki for subsequent misgovernment. This tendency to refuse to acknowledge obvious mistakes while shifting blame to less powerful leaders is a dreadful characteristic in a president, or a person.

Obama should recall one of his heroes, President Kennedy, who earned soaring approval ratings by manfully taking personal responsibility for the Bay of Pigs fiasco, even though CIA incompetence caused the disaster. Another Democrat, Harry Truman, kept a sign on his desk saying “the buck stops here.”

For President Obama, it seems, the buck never stops.