[bluegoose]

In my humble opinion (I'm not really into the acronym thing, ie. imho), Bush's decision yesterday to accept all blame for the poor relief response was a move of genius. Finger pointing and blame seeking has a way of always filtering to the top. Everywhere you turn, there is a headline on magazines and newspapers with someone's analysis of who screwed up the worst in mobilizing relief to New Orleans. With very few exceptions, these stories went straight to the top. Terrible press coverage for a president whose approval ratings have plummetted in recent weeks.

Now I'm not saying that Washington is fully to blame in this case, because they certainly are not. There is plenty of blame to go around. But the way that Bush is attempting to deflect the attention from the slow response to future relief and rebuilding efforts is to be commended. The backlash over his admission will last for a day or two, but not nearly as long as it would have had the finger pointing game continued.

With how well Carl Rove disappeared recently from the headlines after being in that much hot water, you've got to wonder if he still isn't working closely behind the Bush politcal scene.