Politics & Power Quote by Bob Filner

There’s a quiet brutality in how Filner frames presidential power: not as a constitutional abstraction, but as a pair of shoes and a hallway. The line punctures the familiar Washington alibi that a president is perpetually “still learning the facts,” insulated by layers of staff and plausible deniability. By insisting he could “walk down to their offices,” Filner drags the scandal out of the fog of process and into the blunt geometry of command. If he doesn’t act, it’s not because he can’t; it’s because he won’t.

The intent is accusatory, but strategically so. Filner isn’t merely alleging misconduct by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby; he’s alleging a failure of moral will at the top. The phrase “demand that they answer him honestly” is the dagger. It concedes the whole game: power can compel testimony, but it can’t compel truth. That single adverb turns the White House into a stage where loyalty, fear, and self-preservation often outrank candor.

Context matters. In the shadow of the Valerie Plame leak investigation, the Bush administration’s story frequently hinged on compartmentalization: the president distant, aides autonomous, accountability dispersed. Filner rejects that bureaucratic mythology. He reassigns responsibility upward, suggesting that the real scandal isn’t just what Rove and Libby did, but how convenient it is for a president to appear both in charge and uninformed. The line works because it treats ignorance as a choice, not a circumstance.