Finish Ahead: Screw Up and Move On!
In two weeks time, President Barack Obama has done what George Bush failed to do for nearly eight years: He made a mistake, admitted it and is working to rectify it.
“I screwed up.
“I’ve got to own up to my mistake. Ultimately, it’s important for this administration to send a message that there aren’t two sets of rules — you know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes,” Obama said on NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams.”
Change was the big buzzword during the campaign; and after President Obama’s election, the expectations couldn’t have been higher. From the very first days of the transition, every decision, every cabinet choice, was closely scrutinized and gauged for it’s “change value.” Then, as familiar faces filled the cabinet selections, critics lined up to gloat about how, at the end of the day, all we could really expect was more of the same.
It turns out, though, that those comparisons were superficial. The real evidence of significant change came yesterday, after Tom Daschle withdrew his name from consideration for Secretary of Health and Human Services, when the President went on national television and admitted he had made a mistake.
The real change is a leader that takes responsibility for what happens on his watch, even if he personally wasn’t the one that fumbled the ball. This is in stark contrast to the former occupant that – even when asked directly – could not bring himself to admit that he had ever made a mistake until his farewell speech, three weeks ago (and is something the former vice-president has still yet to do).
“It’s not never making mistakes;” the President said, “it’s owning up to them and trying to make sure you never repeat them and that’s what we intend to do.”
Now that’s change I can believe in.
