The Distrust of a Bureaucracy

The only way the American people could process our defeat in Vietnam was the narrative that our civilian leaders had abandoned our military. And they were just our boys who could have won and were winning if it weren't for those contemptible politicians. This was the logic that we went into the 80s with because nobody could just, I mean, you couldn't stand up and say we lost in Vietnam because it was an insurgent war or something like that. Why blame the middle manager instead of McNamara and Johnson? It seems easier to place the blame on fewer people.