Clarke's Apology
From the Buzz Machine (Jeff Jarvis):This [the apology] assumes that government absolutely could have stopped the attack -- and failed. Oh, I wish we could be guaranteed that government absolutely could stop these things but I've seen no proof or assurance of that.
He's practically treating government the way a fundamentalist treats God: an omnipotent being who could and would intervene and fix this if he wanted to. So he's turning government into a bad god -- is that thus a devil? -- who could have stopped these attacks but didn't; it failed.
It may seem like he's quite the mensch by including himself in this apology: "I failed." But he's throwing himself on his rhetorical sword so he can accuse the government -- the administration -- of failing and thus, by its sins of omission and negligence, of practically being complicit in the deaths. I find that offensive; As I said yesterday, it plays into the politicization of 9/11; it makes this about us vs. us instead of us vs. them.
When I first heard Clarke's apology and the start of his testimony, I thought there might be something to listen to here. I haven't said much about Clarke because I haven't yet decided what I think of what he's saying. But I have to say that as his apology sat on the stomach like a bad burrito and came up this morning like a burp, I came to think that his apology was disingenous, melodramatic, and ultimately divisive.
Matt's Chat
In case you missed the inferrence, Jeff is a WTC survivor. His analysis seems to be indicative of other survivors and families of victims...reminds me of the faux-anger over the 9/11 photo usage in Bush's ads.Mark's Remarks
This whole thing reeks of smoke screen. To lead away from his integrity and credibility problem, Clarke begins with a photo op apology. Shameful, and I am glad that Jeff is one WTC survivor who is thinking reasonably and logically, and speaking out. Clarke is just trying to shift blame, and to place it all on Bush because Bush didn't want him for Secretary of Homeland Security or Dept. Secretary. Clarke is a political bureaucratic hack, and it is good he is being debunked more and more as an insincere huckster out to profit and make a rep from the tragedy of 9/11.
