WTF? Responsibility?

Ok, I'm really going to start working on this thing now.

Anyway, Barack Obama is doing the unthinkable. He officially called the handling of the Daschle appointment his own fault.

He is admitting he made a mistake. Not something we're used to seeing from our politicians.

Obama's apology is like getting into a pool after relaxing in the hot tub. The water seems a lot more cold, snaps you awake a lot faster than it would had you not been broiling earlier.

In the same way, we as a country have been sitting in a political hot-tub where our politicians never -- ever -- claim responsibility for policy decisions.

We've been living in a just-passed presidency that saw a myriad of problems, none of which elicited any apologies or admissions of responsibility.

We're talking about a war that was justified largely on the existence of WMD's that were never found. We're talking about an absolutely bungled response Hurricane Katrina.

Granted, Bush himself isn't at fault for all of the problems that occurred during his presidency. But neither he nor any of the people who worked for him took responsibility for any of it.

Granted, Obama here is fessing up to making a bad decision that was mostly political, rather than a massive policy blunder.

Maybe the water's not as cold as we think it is, but after sitting in that hot-tub, it sure feels that way.