Buck-Passer in Chief

It's worth parsing President Bush's effort yesterday at his press conference once again to blame "bureaucracies" for Katrina-related problems, as though federal agencies are somehow outside of his control as leader of the federal government. First, it's important to note that Bush's comments came in the context of praising his own White House staff:

I've got a staff of people that have, first of all, placed their country above their self-interests. These are good, hardworking, decent people. And we've dealt with a lot. We've dealt with a lot. We've dealt with war, we've dealt with recession, we've dealt with scandal, we've dealt with Katrina. I mean, they had a lot on their plate. And I appreciate their performance and their hard work and they've got my confidence.

Then the president immediately drew a contrast between these "good, hardworking, decent people"--many of whom didn't leave Washington or return from their vacations during Katrina--with the rank-and-file federal workers, who, among other things, went into harm's way during and after the hurricane to rescue victims and begin the rebuilding process:

Obviously, there's some times when government bureaucracies haven't responded the way we wanted them to. And like citizens, I don't like that at all. I mean, I think, for example, of the trailers sitting down in Arkansas. Like many citizens, they're wondering why they're down there. How come we got 11,000? So I've asked Chertoff to find out, what are you going to do with them? The taxpayers aren't interested in 11,000 trailers just sitting there; do something with them. And so I share that sense of frustration when a big government is unable to -- sends wrong signals to taxpayers.

It's been more than five years, Mr. President. That big government is your government. Its performance--good and bad--is your responsibility. Even by Washington standards, this kind of buck-passing and blame-shifting is pretty breathtaking.