Writing about the press conference in which the president was asked four times whether he wanted to apologize for 9/11, columnist Mona Charen had this to say:
“Apologies and blame are the themes of the week. On apologies, let’s be aware that many are pure theater. Richard Clarke’s recent apology for having failed to prevent Sept 11 is Exhibit A. The import of the rest of Mr. Clarke’s testimony was that he was the lone hero pushing for action who was ignored by his less farsighted colleagues. It was quite a performance. He apologized, but at the same time made it clear that, as far as he was concerned, he was the only one with nothing to apologize for.”