Would You Consider This To Be A Clever Explanation? Or A Dumb One?

That sounds like a cop-out more than anything. The Pentagon is a Symbol, a Symbol to whom? the local Muties? The fuck they care about yet another wrecked building. Considering that the Enclave are cartoon nazi levels of Evil they wouldn't have no problems cratering the HQ of the one group who can step up to them. So why does this ending option exist? the same reason the Huur I'm finna eat this Baby ending exists, Because Bethesda can only do evil at comic book levels of mustache twirling zaniness, so your one option to be the bad guy always comes down to the wacky evil guy.

 

Well they do post up and fight over several historical monuments, such as the Capitol Building.

That said, no I don't think this is a sufficient explanation

 

There is literally less than nothing in the game suggesting this. There's actually very little at all about the enclave's actual motivations, like even by Bethesda standards.

 

Their entire motivation is the water pump. He who controls the pump, controls the wastes because.....yeah. Somehow that involves blasting random people on the side of the road for the giggles. However President Chatbot wants to use the pump to kill everybody because......yeah. Sure they could release the anti-mutie virus via the air but that was in Fallout 2, so it has to be in a less effective method this time that makes little sense for creative purposes.

 

this would be a good explanation if it was actually written into the game anywhere but its not. the onus isnt on the audience to make a setting or story make sense

 

You guys are all just too stupid to understand Bethesda’s deep worldbuilding. Sorry Bethesda doesn’t spoon feed the Enclave’s motivations to you. Good writers SHOW, not TELL!

 

Bethesda's writers are more advanced than most writers, they don't show and also don't tell.