Bush Takes Responsibility. Yeah. Right. 2

So he pulled off a pretty little speech.

And he said he takes responsibility.

So rare is that for him that it was the headline in almost every report I saw.

No doubt, that’s what Karl Rove told him he had to say.

It is notable that Rove, a political operative, has been put in charge of Katrina recovery. That makes as much sense as putting a failed horse show manager in charge of FEMA.

George Odiorne once wrote that responsibility does not mean who caused the problem, but, rather, it means who’s going to fix it.

The choice of Rove shows that Federal Administration’s goal is fixing Bush’s poll numbers, not fixing bridges, buildings, roads, and lives.

It does not show Bush accepting responsibility for anything.

Accepting responsibility would mean making a difficult choice because it was the right thing, not the political thing, to do.

Accepting responsibility would mean realizing that, if you have to buy a new furnace and you are already out of money, maybe you need to cut back on something else or take a second job, because the credit card’s going to top out sometime.

Accepting responsibility would mean, for example, facing up to the need to ask Americans, including the rich (perhaps especially the rich, since they have had so many financial windfalls come their way courtesy of the Republican Party) to make some sacrifices, like, say, by rolling back some of the tax cuts for those in the top bracket and restoring at least part of the estate tax, (which the right wing, with true marketing genius, has managed to relabel the death tax).

The history of the current Congress makes it pretty clear they are not inclined to cut back, so taking a second job (more income) seems to be indicated.

Instead, Bush has ruled out any tax increases to pay for this recovery, just as he has ruled out any tax increases to pay for the blood and treasure we are expending in Iraq.

Bush is still running up the credit card. And you know what, my friends? When the time comes to pay the bill, he’s not going to be there with either his pretty little speeches or his billfold.