Where Does the Buck Stop?

There was a sign on the desk of former U.S. president Harry Truman declaring that "The Buck Stops Here." Prime Minister Ehud Olmert paraphrased the responsibility inherent in that statement when he declared off the Knesset podium Monday that he is not asking anyone to share responsibility for initiating the war or the manner in which it was run. However, unlike the American president, he does not appear intent on carrying through with his promise. After all, in the same breath he announced that "we do not have the luxury of becoming mired in unrestrained wrangling and mutual recriminations."

The message is clear: the prime minister's noble declaration lacks credibility; he does not intend to put his personal responsibility to the test over the calamity that befell the country in the past month.

When Olmert announces that he, above all others, is responsible for the way the war was carried out, but avoids reaching the necessary personal conclusions, he is behaving according to norms that have dominated public life in recent years: the declaration is enough. In other words, there is no need to pay the price that problematic behavior demands. This is how public figures (and journalists) act when they make "disclosures" after they find themselves in a jam, that is how politicians behave when they are caught being wicked, and this is how generals and chiefs of staff respond when reality blows up in their face ("we were not surprised").

Normally, the way the admission is made allows those who have failed to avoid paying the price: their failure is transformed from being unacceptable behavior or a display of outrageous performance into a mere moment of discomfort. Olmert hopes, or assumes, that this is how things will turn out. Perhaps. Nonetheless, he must take into account that a Moti Ashkenazi-like figure will emerge and hold a hunger strike in front of his residence or office, demanding an explanation for the deaths of 118 soldiers, 40 civilians, and the rest of the damages of this war.