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I agree that there is certainly enough blame to go around.
But the reason many people, including myself, are so hard on Bush is that he has tried to take credit for his supposedly strong leadership leading up to, during, and ever since the attacks on 9-11. He's made the attacks the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, putting images from that day in his campaign ads and even holding the Republican Convention in NYC around the anniversary of the attacks.
Now, in my opinion, if he wants to try to take credit for his "accomplishments", then he should be willing to take the blame for his "mistakes" as well.
One such mistake is the one that Richard Clarke highlighted from the beginning: the Bush administration's preoccupation with the ideological goals of Iraqi regime change and missile defense kept them from reacting to and dealing with the threat of terrorism here in the US.
Contrary to what Dr. Rice said under oath, the briefing clearly provides new information about possible attacks inside the United States. This was in addition to the 40 or so other briefings the President received from Tenet warning him of a major imminent Al Qaeda attack. President Bush should have dealt with this threat immediately. Instead, he played some golf.
Most likely, 9-11 could not have been prevented, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't evaluate Bush's performance in protecting this nation. That's his job and if he's not up to it, we need to get someone else to do it.
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