George Tenet, CEO

It was better than last night's "Sopranos" which had a pedestrian story line about Tony's gambling. George Tenet was on "60 Minutes" last night to promote his new, controversial memoirs, "At the Center of the Storm." But the former CIA boss's performance while making for great TV, backfired, I thought. Instead of seeming sympathetic, Tenet seemed defensive and self-serving. When it came to the stunning errors of his tenure--not sharing the fact that he had two of the 9/11 hijackers in his ken but failed to warn other agencies, that he offered up justification after justification for invading Iraq while privately harboring reservations, and that he thought Cheney was something close to a nut--Tenet was all bluster. When adroitly confronted by the errors of his tenure, Tenet hid behind the noble service of the CIA personnel as if their dedication obviated his errors. You couldn't watch the thing last night without wishing that Tenet had resigned and exposed the mad run up to war for what it was.

On a personal note, I thought his defense of Valerie Plame was tepid at best, but maybe that was due to the editing of the piece. Tenet could have gone nuclear at the outing of one of his agents. There's no sign from last night's interview that that's what he did. (Maybe it's in the book which is finally out today.) Tenet implied he was close to Colin Powell. It'll be interesting to see if he has ever confronted Powell about how the former Secretary of State's deputy, Richard Armitage, outed Plame to Bob Novak.

One of the ironies of last night, is that Tenet was always considered a charmer. He'd charmed the Clintons and Bushes. (I'm told he personally briefed 41, the first President Bush and former CIA Director and charmed him, which helped him keep his job under 43.) He had, as was noted last night, become CIA director at the age of 44. With what seems like a self-serving defense, it's remarkable those instincts have failed him. But I guess the interview did have its intended effect. I plan to buy the book.