"I Screwed Up"

"I screwed up."

With that simple, active, declarative statement, President Obama turned the page on too many years of childish irresponsibility in the White House. 

Obama uttered these words when asked why he nominated Tom Daschle to be Secretary of Health and Human Services despite his past troubles with the Internal Revenue Service. There was no Bushian frown and denial to think of even one small mistake made in office. No Clintonian parsing ("it depends on what the definition of is is"). And none of the passive voice that has so often characterized presidential non-mea culpas ("mistakes were made"). The President owned up to his mistake like a grown-up. 

The last two overgrown teenagers who inhabited the White House would never have let slip with such a phrase in public. Their refusal to own up to mistakes and shortcomings cast a shadow of immaturity over our entire culture, much to our detriment. 

Whether we approve or disapprove of his policies and the job he's doing so far (and I have to say that I am not at all thrilled with the current status of the fiscal stimulus plan, but that is a matter for another post), I hope we all can agree that it's very refreshing and gratifying to once again have a president who levels with the citizens he serves. Hopefully he will inspire a similar wave of personal responsibility in a culture that has for too long failed to acknowledge the consequences of individual actions.