If You Really Loved Me You'd Let Me Eat Your Brain

Should Bush have accepted responsibility for the slow reaction to the damage from Katrina?

On one hand I say no because he's not directly to blame for some of the more outrageous errors, like not using busses to evacuate the poor from New Orleans, or the decision to build a city on a freakin' delta and not build adequate defenses from the angry sea.

On the other hand I say yes because the buck ultimately stops at his desk.  Real leaders make unpopular decisions and stick to their principles, knowing they're doing the right thing despite a lack of immediate popular support.  And real leaders are the only ones left to accept responsibility when the entire chain of command, from parish supervisors to mayors to governors refuse to accept an ounce of blame.  Bush's apology and acceptance of blame disarms the morally-outraged liberals and left-leaning press; He admits it was his fault.  They can hardly attack him for not dealing with the issue head-on or dodging accountability.

Bush's apology will also clear the air of lingering doubt and angst about who to blame.  He accepted responsibility, but if it takes a few days or weeks for the effects to set in we should excuse ourselves for its relative novelty; The previous administration was good at feeling our pain but never accepted responsibility for anything it did.  (Imagine Bush claiming there was "no controlling legal authority" over the levees!) In the end Bush's apology will have the effect of movements like South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission: It focuses a nation's collective guilt and provides a way for individuals to admit they didn't do a perfect job and to ask for forgiveness of everyone involved.  It also gives the victims the chance to forgive and move on.

As the previous President might have emptily gushed: Let the healing begin.