i almost never watch t.v. broadcast news. but a half hour ago my wife asked if she could actually use the computer for a few seconds since i have been hogging it ever since i got home. (fair enough) while she was using this thing, i flipped around the t.v. channels and ended up at the various news channels. they all were running the same story: torture at abu ghraib. more specifically, whether the president should directly apologize for it (since he apparently did not do so when he appeared on arab media earlier today) and whether rumsfeld should resign over the allegations. my vote is yes and yes.
it never ceases to amaze me just how unwilling president bush is to utter anything even remotely resembling an apology or admit that he has made a mistakes. sure, he "regrets" things (often slipping into the passive voice), he demands those who are responsible be held in account (making it clear that he is not the responsible party). in short, he never takes personal responsibility for anything that goes wrong. why just last month bush said at his press conference that he could not think of any mistakes that he made during his presidency. not one! i can think of a half-dozen mistakes i made this morning. is it really that hard?
bush's attempt to evade any admission of blame is ironic since dubya ran on a platform of bringing "a new era of responsibility" to the presidency. the slogan, of course, was intended to highlight the irresponsibility of the clinton white house. but clinton apologized all the time. he talked about his mistakes more than we ever wanted to hear. it's not that hard. in fact, clinton showed us that it can be easy. and although the republicans don't like to admit it, clinton was pretty popular notwithstanding his ability to admit fault.
as head of state the president represents this entire country. he is also commander in chief of the armed forces. in short, the buck stops there. literally the least bush can do is take full responsibility for the conduct of people under his command at abu ghraib and make sure heads will roll. that's what a real president does. that's what a president who takes seriously his role as leader of this country does.
too bad we don't have one like that right now.
