Leadership has nothing to do with avoiding being found wrong

Atrios:
"[Dan Senor]said former colleagues had told him they felt comforted by the recognition that there were no good options, because despite all of the intellect brought to the endeavor, the members of the panel had failed to make the leap from strategy to implementation. “It’s easy to suggest these steps in theory, but we haven’t been able to figure out the how,” Mr. Senor said. “Now, neither have these 10 wise men and woman.”

"Members of the Bush administration, however, would rather continue with the catastrophe than have to admit that maybe someone else has more of a clue . They are comforted by the fact that there's no way to find the pony, even though they, you know, started looking for the damn thing to begin with."