Here's what he said in Washington today: "Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility." That Mr. Optimism made his first statement acknowledging any level of failure with the Iraqi president Jalal Talabani by his side made it a tad ironic.

I am relieved, however, to note that he has not abandoned what has now become his signature Katrina line, i.e. his determination to find out " both what went wrong and what went right." As always with this president, hope springs eternal. [LINK]

Update: Josh Marshall quotes John Kerry's pithy response to this meager display of penitence: "The President has done the obvious, only after it was clear he couldn’t get away with the inexcusable."


Marshall also offers the full transcript of Bush's statement, pointing out that it "is couched in an attempt to minimize the role of federal mismanagement" -- and the foundation for a new line of attack that casts criticism of the federal government as an attack on the first responders on the scene.

Apology not accepted.