Memo to President Bush

First, thank you for hinting Tuesday, at long last, that there exists even the slightest possibility that your administration may have fallen a millimeter or two short of absolute infallibility in at least one particular instance during the last four and a half years. Amazingly enough, in this environment in which it's news when a president admits he actually is answerable for what the federal government does, that constitutes progress.

Still, please know that your decision to announce publicly that you "take responsibility" "to the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right" in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath wasn't any sort of bold leadership stroke or magnanimous gesture. As the federal government's chief executive, you already bore that responsibility regardless of whether you admitted it aloud.