But critics, and there are many, say that his vaunted abilities to lead the department have failed him at a crucial moment.

I DON'T think that politics has paralyzed Gotham's once vaunted ability to get big things done.

They had caught Bray's attention, for regardless of McDowell's vaunted ability in management, he was not an attorney.

And what about that vaunted mind-reading ability?

He said he saw the letter and the situation it described as an example of Einstein's vaunted ability to detach himself from the people around him.

A power that seemed beyond the vaunted ability of the intensified cosmic ray with which picked crooks had managed all their earlier crimes!

Their vaunted promotional abilities, for example, were helpful in persuading people to try their Web sites.

But I also don't believe in a historian's vaunted ability to detach himself from his own contemporary culture, his own political culture.

But critics - and there are many - say his vaunted abilities failed him at a crucial moment.

Its vaunted ability to win elections and oust enemies came into question when several of its closest Congressional allies lost races last year.