Ed Henry to Earnest: If Obama Was Taking Responsibility, Why Did He Say ‘They’ Failed?

Earnest ducks answering Ed Henry’s question

Ed Henry to Earnest: If Obama Was Taking Responsibility, Why Did He Say ‘They’ Failed? (RealClearPolitics)

ED HENRY: When you said it was not the president's intent to blame James Clapper, the question from Steve Kroft was, "is that a complete surprise to you, Mr. President?" And he said, James Clapper says they underestimated it. How is that not blaming the intelligence community?

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE: Because, Ed, on questions like this that the president has answered in the past he's been very clear that as commander in chief he is the one who is personally responsible.

HENRY: He was asked, "was it a surprise to you?" And he didn't yes, no, maybe, he said Jim Clapper.

EARNEST: Well, what I'll tell you is that the president is the commander in chief and he's somebody who takes personal responsibility for the national security of the United States of America.

HENRY: So if he takes that responsibility then why did he use the word they? They underestimated. Why didn't he say we? Isn't James Clapper part of the president's team?

EARNEST: Of course he is. The president has confidence in Director Clapper. And the president has confidence in the intelligence professionals who are responsible for providing him advice and intelligence about what is happening on the ground there and that advice and intelligence has been critical to the success we have had so far in combating the ISIL threat.

HENRY: So Jim Clapper is not going to be fired? Because you would probably acknowledge that is a pretty big intelligence failure then if this is the way the president is going to characterize it --

EARNEST: I would not acknowledge this --

HENRY: You would not?

EARNEST: I would not describe it that way?

HENRY: So the president didn't know for months that this was getting worse? And that's not a failure somewhere?

EARNEST: No. What the president was clear about is that there -- what everybody has been surprised by was the rapid advance earlier this summer that ISIL was able to make across the Syria-Iraq border, in the face of the Iraqi security forces and in a way that allowed them to occupy significant swaths of territory in Iraq.

HENRY: Right, but you're saying that everybody was surprised. So if everybody in the U.S. government was surprised at that, nobody failed? Nobody is going to be held accountable?

EARNEST: Well, Ed, predicting the will of foreign security forces to fight for their country is difficult.

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