Woah

George Bush today:

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.

On a second pass, that "to the extent" has a bit of the ring of "I'm sorry if I offended anyone." Still, let's hope that's the start of a trend. (Hat tip: TPM)

Comments

[liberty4all]

Let's hope that it isn't a trend for MORE government, MORE beauracracy, MORE funding, and MORE regulation. I can see how this can quickly escalate into something that calls for a more effective (read: bigger) department.

Senators will call for large FEMA operations in their own states, urge Congress to use old abandoned military bases, show images of Katrina victims, and even speak through the spirits of those who passed away.

It may be a scary prediction, but it is a fully plausible one as well.

[jf]

1) There is no way Bush gets the same pass that Janet Reno got when she took "full responsibility" for Waco

2) If Bush really means he's taking "full responsility" he should resign. Anything less is meaningless words, like Reno.

[Jigga Wha?]

Nice reset Julian. Glad the whole Movable Type thing has worked out for ya'll.

In response to MP before the comment-swipe, who said: "Responsibility without consequences is meaningless. Taking real responsibility would mean resigning."

I wanted to quip: "Cheney for prez? You've just been Rove in disguise this whole time!!"

Unfortunately, Julian preempted the hilarity with a wacky reset.

[Jason A. Fager]

It's refreshing to see a politician take responsibility for his failures by apologizing and immediately tendering his resignation, just like Janet Reno after the Waco massacre.

jafager

[dead_elvis]

Too bad we're not more like Japan. Not committing suicide over it? Well then, we can see you aren't *really* taking responsibility.

And just in case I can *ever* get this posted, $100 of my money goes to the first person that can hack into Reason's server and fix the damn posting problem.

[dead_elvis]

Too bad we're not more like Japan. Not committing suicide over it? Well then, we can see you aren't *really* taking responsibility.

And just in case I can *ever* get this posted, $100 of my money goes to the first person that can hack into Reason's server and fix the damn posting problem. How is anybody posting? I've had like 1 success out of the last 12 tries.

[dead_elvis]

Too bad we're not more like Japan. Not committing suicide over it? Well then, we can see you aren't *really* taking responsibility.

And just in case I can *ever* get this posted, $100 of my money goes to the first person that can hack into Reason's server and fix the damn posting problem. How is anybody posting? I've had like 1 success out of the last 12 tries. This has been going on so long, even as a joke it's getting pretty tired.

[Julian Sanchez]

I didn't reset; as some of you may have noticed, our server has been 32 flavors of screwed up lately. We're working out the kinks.

[Tom Crick]

1) There is no way Bush gets the same pass that Janet Reno got when she took "full responsibility" for Waco.

Janet Reno offered her resignation after Waco. President Clinton rejected her offer. It was President Clinton that got the pass.

2) If Bush really means he's taking "full responsility" he should resign. Anything less is meaningless words, like Reno.

I give him some credit for accepting the FEMA director's resignation. Bush could have done what he did with Rumsfeld after Abu Gharib and what Clinton did with Reno--reject the resignation.

[jdog]

"It's refreshing to see a politician take responsibility for his failures by apologizing and immediately tendering his resignation, just like Janet Reno after the Waco massacre."

Maybe would could get Janet Reno back to position tanks outside of NO to enforce the evacuation order.

BTW, Reno was right about Waco, and she did not need to apologize or offer her resignation. A US citizen, or group of US citizens, does not have the right to field a private army.

[Tom Crick]

"BTW, Reno was right about Waco, and she did not need to apologize or offer her resignation. A US citizen, or group of US citizens, does not have the right to field a private army."

That may be true...

...but that doesn't mean the Attorney General has the right to pump incendiary gas into a building and cause 75 people--children among them--to die in a fiery hell. ...and then lie about it for years.

Besides, just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's smart. Lately, I've noticed that a lot of people--on both the right and left--seem to be quick to justify government incompetence with the argument that a given incompetent strategy was legal.

...as if the legality of a given strategy were all that's important. ...as if the stupidity of a given strategy weren't reason enough to reject it.

Maybe the worm 'll turn in the aftermath of Katrina. ...I hope.

[Dave W.]

My boss (law firm partner type) used to make me take "to-the-extent" out of legalese I would write in contracts and stuff like that. He always thought the phrase smacked of admission-against-interest or something like that, he was never overly specific about it.

I still think it is a good phrase, but in, and only in, legal documents.

[J. Goard]

Wow, so any time federal bureaucracies massively fuck up, a decent president "taking responsibility" would consist in resignation? Seems like a pretty good recipe for having no decent president for very long.

[Rick H.]

Seems like a pretty good recipe for having no decent president for very long.

...and this would change things how?

[Captain Awesome]

And how could this not smack of a giant new bureacracy?

[jdog]

"...but that doesn't mean the Attorney General has the right to pump incendiary gas into a building and cause 75 people--children among them--to die in a fiery hell."

The AG *does* have the right. Point taken though, it may not have been wise to exercise the AGs full power in this case.

Digressing from the topic.... But let me ask you this Tom. What if David Koresh were a Muslim wackjob rather than a Fundi Christian wackjob. Would the collateral damage to the innocent children be so important to you ? Barring, of course, for now, the existence of fantastic mindreading, selectively wacko-targeting artillary.

[Stevo Darkly]

Janet Reno offered her resignation after Waco. President Clinton rejected her offer. It was President Clinton that got the pass.

So I guess what Bush should do now is tender his resignation to Karl Rove ...
.

(Sorry, I don't usually get all Michael-Mooreish about Dubya, but I couldn't resist.)

[jdog]

Baring in mind ... does not exist.

Yes, my writing stinks.

[bai]

Yeah, when I first heard this on the radio, I thought maybe Jesus was right and these were the end times. The psychopathic G.W. finally admits to human fraility.

Then, a few hours later, NPR ran a little bit more of G.W.'s Big Apology, with the qualification, and I thought, business as usual.

Here in Ohio, G.W.'s good buddy, our Guv'na, had the distinction of being the first Ohio governor to be be charged and convicted of crimes while in office. He SHOULD have gotten jail time, but his bipartisan bretheren in the state government, allowed him to get off scott free with just an e-mail apology to state WORKERS (never mind the rest of us Ohio CITIZENS).

Politicians now act as if they are doing us all a big favor through public acts of contrition before cameras, and that we have become so jaded that we will act like Willy Wonka being given back his Everlasting Gobstopper by Charlie on the way out the door because our elected crooks admit the obvious.

I'm no more impressed with G.W.'s apology than I was with any of Clinton's numerous apologies for Lewinsky, slavery, Waco, tax increases, fill-in-the-blank.

[Tom Crick]

"The AG *does* have the right."

Let's agree to disagree on that one.

"What if David Koresh were a Muslim wackjob rather than a Fundi Christian wackjob. Would the collateral damage to the innocent children be so important to you?"

Yes. ...and the damage to maybe not so innocent adults would, likewise, be important to me too.

I believe we're all holders of rights--Fundamentalist Christians and Muslims alike.

[jf]

Janet Reno offered her resignation after Waco. President Clinton rejected her offer. It was President Clinton that got the pass.

Right. You do know there's a world of difference between "offering her resignation" and "resigning". The offer was a sham, just like her "taking full responsibility". Either she was going to resign or not, offer be damned.

And I still hold Bush to the same standard. Resign, since you admit it was your fuckups that caused all these problems.

[Maurkov]

Is it too late to request replacement blog software? I've long suspected that this board is intentionally primative in order to repel casual users, but please. Have you guys looked at Scoop? It does accounts and threads, and it does not suck.

[Adam]

And I still hold Bush to the same standard. Resign, since you admit it was your fuckups that caused all these problems.

Holy shitballs. "ALL these problems"??
GET A GRIP!!!

FEMA fucked up - that doesn't absolve the PEOPLE of New Orleans for their fucked up behavior, nor does it absolve the MAYOR of NO for his many failures, nor does it absolve Gov. Blanco of HER immense failures - and if you check out the Meet the Press transcript for last week, you'll note that Mayor Nagin places most of the blame squarely on Blanco, and says that Bush did a pretty damn good job:

MR. RUSSERT: How would you grade the president's performance thus far, A through F?

MAYOR NAGIN: How would I rate it?

MR. RUSSERT: Yes.

MAYOR NAGIN: Oh, I don't want to get into that, Tim. I mean, I will tell you this: I think the president, for some reason, probably did not understand the full magnitude of this catastrophe on the front end. I think he was probably getting advice from some of his key advisers or some low-level folk that had been on the ground that this was serious, but not as serious as it ended up being. My interactions with the president is, anytime I talked with him and gave him what the real deal was and gave him the truth, he acted and he made things happen.

MR. RUSSERT: How about the governor?

MAYOR NAGIN: Well, you know, I don't know about that one. We fought and held that city together with only 200 state National Guard. That was it. We did not get a lot of other support for three or four days of pure hell on Earth. There were resources that were sitting in other parishes. I just don't know. I mean, and then when a group did come down to review what was happening in New Orleans, it was a big media event. It was followed with cameras and with AP reporters, a little helicopter flyover, and then they had a press conference and it was gone. So I don't have much else to say about that.

[MP]

Wow, so any time federal bureaucracies massively fuck up, a decent president "taking responsibility" would consist in resignation? Seems like a pretty good recipe for having no decent president for very long.

Responsibility requires consequences. What consequences is the President going to suffer as a result of taking responsibility? Answer: None. Thus, it is simply worthless bullshit talk.

[Tom Crick]

"What consequences is the President going to suffer as a result of taking responsibility? Answer: None."

Sometimes it seems that way.

If the President were to mercilessly ass rape a homeless disaster victim, I'd bet some 40% of the American public would still support him under the premise that the victim was against the Iraq War and promiscuous in college. ...oh, and that the media was biased.

...On the other hand, if the President stole taxpayer money for his campaign... Money intended to help the widows and orphans who lost their life savings in the S&L crisis, and everyone involved in the deal--except for the President and his wife--went to prison for it...

...or if he sent our Navy into the Taiwan Strait in return for a campaign contribution from a pro-Democracy party in Taiwan... ...Only to pull the navy out again in exchange for a campaign contribution from the People's Liberation Army...

...If the President did that, and then, on top of it all, used the FBI to spy on his political enemies, I'd bet a different 40% of the American public would still support him on the premise that it was all about sex. ...oh, and that the media was biased.

Let's hear it for the other 20%!

[Tom Crick]

"Right. You do know there's a world of difference between "offering her resignation" and "resigning". The offer was a sham, just like her "taking full responsibility". Either she was going to resign or not, offer be damned."

Look, I said the President deserves some credit for accepting Brown's resignation. I mentioned Reno's and Rumsfeld's--for all I know--sham resignations specifically to show what President Bush could have done. He did the right thing--he didn't have to.

...So not everything he does is incompetent? I still think he's incompetent. ...A broken clock tells perfect time twice a day!

[rich]

surely, the start of a trend.

a trend that will continue only until the poll numbers are north of 50% again.

[Ruthless]

Anybody else remember the novelty song that was so popular when streakers were all the rage?
"Cover up your eyes, Ethyl, here comes a streaker."

Well, wouldn't it be refreshing if Dubya could say to his fellow citizens, "Cover up your ears, Laura, but I fucked up big time"?

[joe]

Why do libertarians focus their outrage for Waco primarily on Janet Reno?

Why not, say, Louis Freeh, or George HW Bush, or Bill Clinton?

[jf]

joe:

I can't speak for "libertarian outrage", nor is that my motivation for mentioning Mr. Reno. My problem is when craven gutless politicians claim "full responsibility" for a government fuck-up without taking any consequences. It's kinda like the no-apology apology you get from politicos; that "I'm sorry if I offended anyone" or "I'm sorry I was misunderstood" bullshit.

[thoreau]

Does taking full responsibility mean that he won't seek another term?

Oh, wait a minute...

[mediageek]

A US citizen, or group of US citizens, does not have the right to field a private army.

*AHEM*

[Apostate Jew]

I know most of us know this but people have rights, not government employees.

The AG and POTUS have powers as the AG and POTUS but not rights. They only have rights as people.

God help us all when the AG or POTUS have rights.

Limited powers and all that ...

[Ted]

He accepted the resignation because the guy was a bigger liability as head of FEMA than he is now that he's gone. Bush can hardly deny there were serious problems, and everyone knows it; he needs someone to fall on his sword, and Brownie is it. Accepting the resignation would only be accepting responsibility if Bush were going to pay some kind of price for it, but he won't; if anything this will be spun as "decisive leadership" and "a tough decision made to solve an important problem" and all this kind of garbage.

[Stretch]

Well, there's no doubt this apology is a sham (as are all political apologies), noteworthy only because Bush has refused to admit any mistake before now.

But as was mentioned above, I have trouble holding the President directly and totally responsible for the mistakes of a bureaucratic institution. Granted, Bush bears more than normal as he appointed someone with no real qualifications, but I can't help but thinking that if people didn't already hate Bush that talk of resignation over this would seem far-fectched.

Of course, nothing less will satisfy those who hate the man. I certainly wouldn't be upset if he resigned, but I'm not at all convinced that the piss poor response of the federal government to a natural disaster is grounds for it.

[Evan Williams]

Accepting the resignation would only be accepting responsibility if Bush were going to pay some kind of price for it

And thus, we see the eternal black hole that is the "program". This is how government works. If something goes wrong, just do MORE of it! If government fucks up, just throw more money at it. This is why there is no incentive to do anything but launch PR campaigns based on focus group findings. It's not like people really get fahred. When government fucks up, who gets punished? The taxpayers, of course...by having more of our hard-earned dollars spent cleaning up the mess that was made in the first place. And then the political class acts as if IT is the one being punished by having to spend more of OUR money. Yeah, whole lotta "responsibility" being taken. Bush is gonna take "responsibility" by spending more of OUR money on horseshit government programs.

Yeah, that'll teach 'em!

[thoreau]

I'm not calling for resignation. But I have a hard time understanding what it means to take responsibility without facing consequences.

I can't think of any consequences other than resignation, but I don't think resignation is warranted. So I have no clue how consequences can really apply here and what it actually means to take responsibility. Seems like the whole thing is just PR.

Gee, ya think?

[rmark]

I suspect, once the murky waters clear and rational (as opposed to emotional, politically convenient, and news promotional) analysis is done, we'll find out that a low-lying city with category 3 hurricane defenses dating back to the Johnson administration was hit by a category 4 hurrice, resulting in flooding. Most of the agencies will have done what they could, with roads clogged with wind driven debris restricing movement of survivors out and rescuers in. Reporters tell stories, not report data derived facts with timelimes of events showing who did what when and what was feasible at the time.

[rmark]

With flood defeneses dating from 1965, anyone complaining about Bush,also must mention Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, and Clinton, plus all the congressman along the way, since they initiate spending bills.

[JD]

I am reminded of a phrase which I first saw during the aftermath of the Waco incident: "falling on a rubber sword." Somebody should make it clear to politicians that "taking full responsibility" does not mean "There, I said it. Now let's all go have ice cream."

[joe]

I think it's funny that Adam considers this quote from Mayor Nagin about President Bush:

"My interactions with the president is, anytime I talked with him and gave him what the real deal was and gave him the truth, he acted and he made things happen."

...to reflect so well on Bush that he not only quotes it, but puts it in bold type, as evidence of how effective Bush's leadership was.

I wonder, did Nagin also say that Laura doesn't sweat much for a fat chick?

[Adam]

joe - If you'll note the start of that comment, it was intended solely to refute the statement in italics at the start, made originally by commenter jf,

And I still hold Bush to the same standard. Resign, since you admit it was your fuckups that caused all these problems.

I hate to interrupt your straw man-slaying fun, but if you want to know what I think of Bush's handiwork here, I'll say this (if you don't care, and would rather stick with killing straw men, stop reading here): letting FEMA atrophy in the way he did, filling it with political appointees while watching the James Lee Witt talent pool flee under incompetence from above, was a mind-boggling bit of irresponsibility and failed leadership. He's got a lot of work to do, and he needs to clean house in FEMA.

[Tom Crick]

"I wonder, did Nagin also say that Laura doesn't sweat much for a fat chick?"

Ha! ; )