I watched most of CNN's coverage of the President's Q and A session at Johns Hopkins. The International Students showed a depth and breath of knowledge in their questions. The President, not so much.
Most coverage has focused on the leak question. But I found two others more intriguing. The first asked under what laws contractors in Iraq operate. The President will refer that query to Rumsfeld. Two years after Abu Graib, President Bush couldn't say what laws govern the shadowy figures never charged with abuse. Accountability is foreign language to the administration. Gosh, I hope the news people follow up on this contractor story.
The second, about the war in Iraq, elicited a response that the President knew what he was getting into, that there would be casualties, and that he wouldn't have made the decision if he thought it was wrong. He was animated and impassioned.
And it was sad to see. Even now the President doesn't admit he made a mistake. I suspect that if he ever confronted reality and the enormity of what he has brought about, the man would crack. So for the next few years our country is likely going to have to deal with a President who will continue to make excuses and give alternate versions of truth. And his future actions will be based on a skewed version of recent history.