Where Does the Buck Stop? Not Here.

For the political head of a nation, it is quite rare, and at least in the view of some historians and government experts, getting rarer, as a national culture of shifting blame permeates American politics. Accepting responsibility, let alone blame, for the events of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. by the American government has been a typical case of passing the buck. In this political culture, taking responsibility exposes weakness. In fact, presidents may well be afraid to admit that they can't make every-thing perfect.