| Wednesday, September 14, 2005 |
| Mea sorta culpa |
I haven't been blogging much over the last couple of days because I've been pitching in with a project to raise money and awareness for Moss Point and other hard-hit areas of Mississippi, which were decimated by Katrina but which live in the shadow of New Orleans. So I'm only belatedly getting a chance to process President Bush's supposed "mea culpa" for the federal government's serial failures after the storm (of course, he tossed in mea's for the state and local failures, too...)
To be sure, the move to admit that things might not have gone all that well, and that if they didn't, he takes responsibility, is remarkable for this president and this administration. Still, before the press and the president's supporters blow a gasket proclaiming what a revelation Bush's admission was, it's important to note exactly what the president said:
"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government. And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility."
... Not exactly "the buck stops here."
To be fair, there's probably little that this president could say or do at this stage that would cause me or others on my side of the divide to change my mind and feel positively about him. But he could regain some of his standing with the nation if he were to take a page from his old nemesis Richard Clarke. He still has time, in the few hours before his address to the nation tonight, to order his simpering, nervous-nelly aides to junk the chest thumping, all is well speech he probably has planned, and say something like this:
"To the people of Louisiana and Mississippi, but especially to those in New Orleans: your government failed you. I failed you. And for that, I humbly ask for your forgiveness."
That, at least, I would respect. |
posted by JReid @ 3:02 PM   |
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