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May. 8th, 2004 03:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheWhat is missing in the modern American cult of "sorry" is any sense of responsibility. Whether it concerns the incompetence of the security apparatus before 9/11, a misguided and failed imperial adventure, the mismanagement and degradation of the army, or the criminal behavior of Americans in Iraq, everyone feels "bad" and everyone expresses "regret." But until Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld testified on Friday, no one even hinted at feeling "responsible." According to Bush (interviewed on the U.S.-funded Al Hurra Arabic language television network), "We believe in transparency, because we're a free society. That's what free societies do. If there's a problem, they address those problems in a forthright, upfront manner." Except, of course, we don't.
[...] Everyone is sorry "it" happened. But unless its leaders can get beyond that sanctimonious and self-serving response, the United States is in deep trouble. If Rumsfeld (who on Friday offered his "deepest apology"), Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz or Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard B. Myers were honorable men they would resign in shame. But they are not.
If Bush were of presidential caliber he would have sacked them by now -- and taken full personal responsibility for their incompetence. But wherever the buck stops these days, it surely is not on the president's desk. Yet nothing short of such an old-fashioned assumption of duty can now retrieve America's standing in the community of nations.
A Sorry State: The Artlessness of the Apology
[...] Everyone is sorry "it" happened. But unless its leaders can get beyond that sanctimonious and self-serving response, the United States is in deep trouble. If Rumsfeld (who on Friday offered his "deepest apology"), Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz or Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard B. Myers were honorable men they would resign in shame. But they are not.
If Bush were of presidential caliber he would have sacked them by now -- and taken full personal responsibility for their incompetence. But wherever the buck stops these days, it surely is not on the president's desk. Yet nothing short of such an old-fashioned assumption of duty can now retrieve America's standing in the community of nations.
A Sorry State: The Artlessness of the Apology