OP wasn't saying that all people are always held accountable for all of their actions but the Iraq war caused a massive problem for Labour at the polls that they never really recovered from. Also, the incessent onslaught of media vultures trying to stir trouble for a headline will certainly make it harder for people to make decisions that they believe to be right because most people won't understand all of the variables and will cause massive criticism.

Until we are front page news for being "naive", "stupid", "arrogant", "monster", we can't really understand the pressure that Governments are under.