Where Does The Buck Stop?

President Truman had a sign on his desk that said, "The buck stops here." Obviously the current president does not subscribe to that theory, because when agencies go sour the exercise in "passing the buck" for the problem up the chain of command stops somewhere well short of his desk.

When HHS totally botched the launch of Obamacare, Obama was pissed off and announced to the country that he would not tolerate that sort of thing, with the implication that it was neither his fault nor that of his apointee Kathleen Sebelius. She later retired with honor, blameless for the debacle over which she presided. Now Obama is "outraged" and "will not tolerate" the performance of the Veterans' Health Service, but he is not prepared to hold either himself of his apointee Eric Shinseki to account for that debacle, either.

Some presidents accept responsibility for what happens on their watch, and others stand back and are "outraged" by what their subordinates do.
"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"