The Feld-Blog

Bush went on national television and said "i take responsibility." Bush paid lip service to the idea that he might actually hold responsibility for something. I was starting to believe that he thinks of himself as like the pope -- completely infallible. Of course we’ve seen how that has worked out for the catholic church -- murdering brilliant scientists like Gallileo and denying heliocentricity for hundreds of years, failing to castigate Hitler for atrocious acts of genocide, et al. I was starting to believe that Bush thought he would never have to apologize for everything. I was starting to worry that he thought he could just push through anything and no one would notice, but he shocked America, and, I think, the world by taking responsibility for the failings of the governmental response to Katrina.

Unfortunately, while these rare words are echoing across every newspaper, TV program and Blog in existence, Bush’s actions are failing to falling into line. He is still hindering some of the relief effort by refusing important funds. But, as seems to be a theme in my recent posts, he is taking baby steps, and I can at least be proud of him for that. Don’t get me wrong, I am still counting the days until he leaves office, but maybe the meantime won’t be as unlivable as I had once feared. Let’s see how things go.

We have a long way to go in rebuilding a ravaged section of America. It is encouraging to see that the leader of our government is finally willing to admit responsibility in this realm.

I also think this was a politically crafty move for Bush. He had almost no one on his side. The country stood almost unanimously behind the proposition that he had failed. There has been increasingly potent criticism of this administration for never admitting fault even when it is so obvious. He lost nothing by admitting defeat and accepting responsibility since everyone was thinking it already, and he has punched a gushing leak in one of Democrats favorite attacks. Good move Mr. President. I can only hope that it was sincere and not as politically motivated as it could be. I suppose we’ll find out as this story unfolds.