Newsflash: The President Did Not "Admit a Mistake"

Much has been made in the press about the President "admitting mistakes" in his speech Wednesday.

Of course, the President did no such thing. Being of reasonably sound mind, we all know full-well what an apology is. And -

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me."

- is not it.

If someone merely stepped on your foot, you'd expect more than -

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me."

At the very least, you'd expect "Oh, my, I am SO sorry. I had no idea your foot was there. You okay? I'll look more carefully next time." And then that person would walk away in a completely different direction to make sure your foot didn't get stepped on again.

What President was addressing, of course, was something far more clumsy. So, it's hardly inappropriate to expect far more of an apology when "admitting his mistake." More than -

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me."

In fact, as far as fake "admissions of mistakes" go, there isn't an apology to be found. Not so much as a single "My bad." Even 11-year-olds will reluctantly toss that in. But the President of the United States couldn't muster up five letters, "S-o-r-r-y." All the American public got was 12 words:

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me."

That's even less than the 16 words we got lying us into the Iraq War over non-existent yellow cake in the first place.

Were this in any other context, said by anyone other than the President of the United States who famously once refused to acknowledge any error at all, then hearing someone say -

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me."

- wouldn't even register on the "Admit-a-Mistake-o-Meter." It would be a cartoon moment, where a balloon comically whooooosed past our head, and we'd comment, "Sorry, did you say something?"

No, when a normal, everyday human says -

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me."

- we all understand that the person isn't truly "admitting he made a mistake." We understand that the person is doing everything possible to avoid admitting it. "Where mistakes have been made" isn't even acknowledging error. It's winking off to the side at your buddies a cryptic, "But of course no mistakes were made, heh, heh," and hoping no one will notice.

When a normal, everyday human says -

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me."

- we understand that the person is not taking responsibility. Instead, that's like a parent taking responsibility for their child. They know and we know that the person who broke your valuable vase is the kid. They're just trying to be polite. And they'll probably pay to replace the vase - not find 20,000 more of your vases to break.

When a normal, everyday human says -

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me."

- it's the equivalent of when someone spits out something horribly obnoxious to you, and only after everyone gangs up on him finally begrudges, "If I said anything that offended you, I'm sorry." You want to respond, "There is no 'if' about it, bucko. You did offend me. Now, apologize correctly or go skulk off into the dark hole from which you came."

See, the basic thing about "admitting a mistake" is that it involves three core features: 1) recognizing the mistake, 2) saying you're sorry, and 3) doing your best to make sure it doesn't happen again. Anything else is just puffery.

Unfortunately, the President avoided Feature #2, and packaged #1 and #3 with a pretty bow, saying -

"It is clear that we need to change our strategy in Iraq" and then sending in 20,000 more troops to augment the mistake. That's not "admitting a mistake." That's compounding it. That's not a change in strategy. That's simply a change in tactic. If you filled your tub until it overflowed, a change in strategy to clean up the mess would not be to turn on both spigots in full.

President Bush did not "admit a mistake." Period. We all know - all of us - that admitting a mistake requires at least consequence. And you can pick through the President's speech one nit at a time and not find a single consequence. (And I don't mean for the 20,000 soldiers he wants to send to Iraq.) No one was fired in his "admission," no one reprimanded, nobody even sent to their room without dessert. There wasn't even the least sense of personal shame and repentance. The only shocking thing was that the entire Bush War Brain Trust didn't get awarded the President Medal of Freedom. Perhaps they've run out of papier-mâché.

Ultimately, of course, it doesn't matter all that much if the President "admitted a mistake" or not. What matters is that he wants to send 20,000 more troops into the debacle he created in the first place. But let's not compound that problem by thinking that -

"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me."

- is "admitting a mistake."

That would be a mistake.