The Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) is inching forward, faltering on its path. "The dustbin of history," mutters a small army of the disappointed and the multitude of early skeptics. Over time—through missteps, stumbles, and abandonments of the provisions in the April 3 agreement—a consensus has formed about the CPT’s exercise of power.

Over the past 12 months, the CPT has failed to rise to the historical demands of its creation. It did not grasp that it was expected to achieve the impossible; it never became a republican front capable of transcending divisions and steering the country with seriousness, clarity, intelligence, selflessness, and courage. The Council quickly got entangled in disgrace, as with the BNC scandal. The CPT’s solidarity and handling of that affair weighed heavily.