One of my pet peeves is the assertion — usually by politicians — that they “take responsibility” for something, when clearly they are not doing so. For example, Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal did this recently with respect to his lies about serving in Vietnam.
President Obama just did it in his news conference, with respect to the supposedly cozy relationship between the federal Minerals Management Service and the oil industry.
Obama said that his Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, “came in and started cleaning house. But the culture had not fully changed at MMS. And surely I take responsibility for that…[T]here is no evidence some of the corrupt practices that took place earlier took place under the present administration’s watch.”
If you read what he said, there is no sense in which Obama is taking responsibility here. Perhaps it’s not his fault, even, but focus groups like it when people “take responsibility.” Obama is not the only politician to use “I-take-responsibility-but-it’s-not-my-fault,” but he uses it as often, and as masterfully, as anyone in the business.
