Bush takes responsibility?

[Rowan11088]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in842195.shtml

Now admittedly, I only heard about this from the Daily Show, so I know the republicans are gonna be criticizing my news sources. But I did see the footage of Bush saying that there was blame on all levels of government for the Katrina response, and that for the lack in the federal response, HE TAKES RESPONSIBILITY.

Just as Jon Stewart obviously was, I was totally blown away by that, since Dubya is not one to take responsibility upon himself, ever. But in this particular case I applaud him for it, that takes a lot of guts. I really hope this is a trend-setter, I think our government would be immensely improved by some people standing up and not trying to shift the blame. I'm not even sure Bush really had much fault in this at all, which makes it even more laudable that he's willing to say something like this to the whole American populace.

So children, discuss!

[visigothe]

Yes he did take responsibility and i have heard praise from democrat congressman, a african american one, from louisana praising bush. because before bush cam and visited the clean up was a mess....bush did some stuff to change that and now everything is getting back on track

[Sidus Preclarum]

I don't get it, all this "taking responsability" nonsense...
here, across the pond, where one hears a sentence beginning by "I take full responsability of such and such failure", one logically awaits it to end in something akin to "and am therefore resigning from such and such position".
in the us (heard Cheney do it, too), it more or less sounds like "ok, I'm taking responsability. there, I said it, no need to talk about all that stuff any further, thank you, good night..."
wtf...

[Garbarsardar]

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday said he takes personal responsibility for the federal government's stumbling response to Hurricane Katrina as his White House worked on several fronts to move beyond the improvisation of the first days of the crisis and set a long-term course on a problem that aides now believe will shadow the balance of Bush's second term.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at a White House news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. "And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility. I want to know what went right and what went wrong."

You are probably reffering to that.

As you see, he "takes responsibility", without this having any effect upon him. He wants to know what went wrong? He should never stop his holidays. That went wrong.

[Rowan11088]

I still think it's a big step forward. Presidents don't just "resign" unless they've done something illegal, i.e. Nixon. Bush made mistakes, and he owned up to it. Good for him. I think people who criticize him even for this are just looking for excuses to bash the guy; what more do you want?

[Casanova]

I agree, it isnt the same as some Beurocrat resigning. If the president were to resign it would have repercussions far greater than just getting a new President. That is not something the US needs right now, and frankly his stepping down at this point would only make matters much worse.

[the Black Prince]

he admitted his mistakes

thats good

now he needs to the next step
in britain this would usually be resign, and act as a political scapegoat whilst the rest of the government tries to repair the governments image and the actual damage done (usually in that order)
this doesn't work in america as bush IS the executive government, not his cabinet.

so what he needs to do is stop making speechs and get to work actually6 sorting things out in the disaster area and making sure that the federal government, and FEMA especially are prepared and ready should such a situation happen again.
unfortunately it always seem to be true of most governments that planning for emergancies and ensuring the system works properly (whether it be a management system, a warning system, a control sysytem or an evacuation system) only happens after the big emergancy...

[Pra]

I don't get it, all this "taking responsability" nonsense...
here, across the pond, where one hears a sentence beginning by "I take full responsability of such and such failure", one logically awaits it to end in something akin to "and am therefore resigning from such and such position".
in the us (heard Cheney do it, too), it more or less sounds like "ok, I'm taking responsability. there, I said it, no need to talk about all that stuff any further, thank you, good night..."
wtf...

It's like what JFK did with the Bay of Pigs/ We Americans are forgiving, we forgave JFK and we will forgive Bush for the faults of the Federal Government. Isn't it funny that a simple apology can reduce most criticism?

[danzig]

Just as Jon Stewart obviously was, I was totally blown away by that, since Dubya is not one to take responsibility upon himself, ever. But in this particular case I applaud him for it, that takes a lot of guts. I really hope this is a trend-setter, I think our government would be immensely improved by some people standing up and not trying to shift the blame. I'm not even sure Bush really had much fault in this at all, which makes it even more laudable that he's willing to say something like this to the whole American populace.

So children, discuss!

I think its simple, no matter what REAL blame is deserved on Bush he was going to get it ALL dumped on him so instead fighting it take the steam out (a major blunder of Clinton's presidency was not just admitting yeah I had sex with her not once but twice and leave them nothing to attack) of it and just admit to it. It was a losing fight trying to deny it EVEN if I personally think he was hardly fully to blame...hell not even the bulk of it. So yeah I agree with you, its pretty much a nobrainer you take the air out of democrats who are pointing fingers, those that hate him will continue to hate him but they are a minority those who are annoyed, displeased, on the fence will probably be affected by it the most. Guess someone in Bush admin has seen Clear and Present Danger and Harrison Ford's advice to the president after his close friend is nailed for drug trafficing and killed. I wouldnt be too impressed as I think this is purely a political move but a good and necessary one.


Interesting side note too after his speech last night ABC news interviewed a group of people at the Astrodome who fled New Orleans (all African Americans) not ONE of them blamed Bush, almost all the blame by them were at the mayor. Was kinda of suprisingly, here you have the actual people affected by this in the worst way, poor, black and homeless now thanks to the hurricane and were stuck in NO for days waiting to get out and none of them blamed the President. Just goes to show you dont look to rich, african americans who are completely detacted from the incident as an accurate picture of how people feel.