New at Reason: Jacob Sullum on Obama's Promises and Pretenses

February 3, 2010

The day before President Obama delivered his State of the Union address last week, The New York Times reported that "aides said he would accept responsibility, though not necessarily blame" for failing to deliver on promises he made during his campaign. If you accept responsibility for something bad, asks Senior Editor Jacob Sullum, aren’t you accepting blame by definition? Not if you’re Barack Obama, says Sullum, who argues that the president has a talent for accepting responsibility while minimizing and deflecting it.

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