Dana Milbank: Obama - Apologist in Chief
[Dana Milbank is a columnist for The Washington Post.]
For eight years we had a president who refused to accept blame. Now we have one who seems to enjoy it.
In the hour President Obama spent at the podium in the East Room last week holding a news conference on the Gulf oil spill, he practiced every form of self-flagellation short of bringing out a cat-o'-nine-tails.
"The culture had not fully changed in MMS" -- the agency that polices oil drilling -- "and absolutely I take responsibility for that," he said. "There wasn't sufficient urgency."
The administration, he explained, "was in the process of making these reforms. But the point that I'm making is that obviously they weren't happening fast enough. If they had been happening fast enough, this might have been caught."
He decorated the East Room with wuddas, cuddas and shuddas: "We should have busted through those constraints. . . . pre-deploying boom would have been the right thing to do . . . I do think our efforts fell short. . . . They should have pushed them sooner. . . . I think that it took too long. . . . Where I was wrong was in my belief that the oil companies had their act together."
No wonder Americans are growing dissatisfied with his handling of the spill. Even his daughter holds him responsible. "When I woke this morning and I'm shaving," he said, "Malia knocks on my bathroom door and she peeks in her head and she says, 'Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?' "
"In case you were wondering who's responsible," he added, "I take responsibility."
That's very clear, sir. But why not share some with the guys at BP who actually are responsible for the spill?
In a sense, it's refreshing to have a president who is candid about shortcomings. Yet Obama's news conference may have been the weakest hour of his presidency...
Read entire article at WaPo
For eight years we had a president who refused to accept blame. Now we have one who seems to enjoy it.
In the hour President Obama spent at the podium in the East Room last week holding a news conference on the Gulf oil spill, he practiced every form of self-flagellation short of bringing out a cat-o'-nine-tails.
"The culture had not fully changed in MMS" -- the agency that polices oil drilling -- "and absolutely I take responsibility for that," he said. "There wasn't sufficient urgency."
The administration, he explained, "was in the process of making these reforms. But the point that I'm making is that obviously they weren't happening fast enough. If they had been happening fast enough, this might have been caught."
He decorated the East Room with wuddas, cuddas and shuddas: "We should have busted through those constraints. . . . pre-deploying boom would have been the right thing to do . . . I do think our efforts fell short. . . . They should have pushed them sooner. . . . I think that it took too long. . . . Where I was wrong was in my belief that the oil companies had their act together."
No wonder Americans are growing dissatisfied with his handling of the spill. Even his daughter holds him responsible. "When I woke this morning and I'm shaving," he said, "Malia knocks on my bathroom door and she peeks in her head and she says, 'Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?' "
"In case you were wondering who's responsible," he added, "I take responsibility."
That's very clear, sir. But why not share some with the guys at BP who actually are responsible for the spill?
In a sense, it's refreshing to have a president who is candid about shortcomings. Yet Obama's news conference may have been the weakest hour of his presidency...