Finally...

"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 today. Bush said he wants to know what went right and what went wrong so that he can determine whether the United States was prepared for another storm, or an attack. "I'm not going to defend the process going in...but I am going to defend the people who are on the front line of saving lives" he said.

Finally. Somebody admits there were problems, and is willing to examine what they were and what needs to be done to address them. If President Bush is willing to admit over the coming weeks and months that there were in fact areas in which "the federal government didn't fully do its job right" - that more attention needs to be paid to allocation of budget assets, to treatment of department executives and chains of command, and to elimination of bureaucracy and turf wars - then constructive criticism can lead to a safer and more secure country, one able to deal with future catastrophes whether man-made or natural. I sincerely hope that this is not simply politically-charged rhetoric meant to be used in mid-term elections next November; that the President and his administration take this opportunity to improve on what was obviously a flawed system. If so, something positive will come out of all of this! At this point, that's all any rational person can ask for.