[Mb-civic] MUST READ: What Responsibility? - Richard Cohen - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

What Responsibility?

By Richard Cohen
Thursday, September 15, 2005; Page A33

Following the botched Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, John F. 
Kennedy took full responsibility for the debacle. "I am the responsible 
officer," the president said. Similarly, in 1983, Ronald Reagan said "I 
accept responsibility" for the catastrophic terrorist attack on the 
Marine barracks in Beirut. Now, as if in the grand tradition of 
presidents affirming that the buck stops where Truman said it did -- the 
Oval Office -- George Bush has taken responsibility for the shortcomings 
in the federal effort regarding Hurricane Katrina. If he means what he 
said, then Katrina washed up a whole new George Bush.

But a little skepticism is in order here. After all, the George Bush we 
have come to know sorely lacks a rearview mirror. Not only is he 
disinclined to look back, but when he does so he sees nothing but 
triumph and astounding successes. Even his debacles -- and the war in 
Iraq for some reason comes to mind -- get transformed from what they 
once were to what he would like them to be. We are getting murdered in 
Baghdad not on account of weapons of mass destruction but to bring 
democracy to the Middle East. Who would not want to die for that?
   

For Bush there is only today and tomorrow. Yesterday is someone else's 
responsibility -- maybe still Clinton's. Even in his White House 
statement saying "I take responsibility," he also said that "Katrina 
exposed serious problems in our response capability." Funny, I thought 
the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did that. It was then that we 
learned about inadequate communications systems, among other things. It 
was then that our minds were focused on the incomprehensible and that 
people -- not to mention governments -- started thinking about the 
evacuation of whole cities. Bush makes a lousy Boy Scout. Prepared he 
wasn't.

If Bush were the CEO of a major corporation, his board would fire him. 
It would want to know what the hell he's been doing for the past four 
years and what he's done with the untold billions given to the 
Department of Homeland Security. After seeing how the feds stood by 
while sick people died in New Orleans hospitals, the board might want to 
fire itself -- but that is not practical. The board in this case is the 
American people.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091402621.html?nav=hcmodule
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