Bush and the R Word

The Carpetbagger Report takes on the issue of Bush supposedly claiming responsibility today. Now, I've copied liberally just because I think it's such a good post and I want you to read it in whole, so forgive me before you report me. ;)

Bush doesn't talk about taking responsibility very often, so when he does, it's noteworthy.
President Bush on Tuesday said he takes responsibility for the federal government's failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government and to the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said during a joint news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

According to the White House website, this is only the second time Bush has used the exact phrase "I take responsibility" since becoming president. The first time was a little over two years ago when Bush acknowledged that he is responsible for putting Americans troops into action in Iraq. (He said, at the time, that it was because "Saddam Hussein was a threat to our security." How quaint.)

He's toyed with similar admissions — just two weeks ago, Bush said, "I take personal responsibility for everything I say" — but in general, the president has gone out of his way to steer clear of the "r" word, at least with regard to his personal accountability.

Now, however, we get to understand what he means when he says it.

To be sure, Bush accepting responsibility today was an encouraging development. And while the last thing I want to do is get into a semantics argument with the president, usually "taking responsibility" means something along the lines of consequences.

In one sense, Bush accepting responsibility for Katrina-related failures means he's accepting blame. Who messed up? The administration messed up, and since he's in charge of the administration, that means the buck stops at the president's desk. Good.

But in order for the phrase to have real meaning, there has to be a penalty or cost of some kind. If someone "takes responsibility" but nothing happens, it's purely rhetorical. It's at empty phrase. It's tantamount to saying: The administration was negligent, Bush accepts responsibility, and we can all get on with our lives now.

The question now becomes: what will Bush do with this responsibility?