Political Friday: Mistakes Were Made
I am a political junky. There’s nothing as frustrating, fascinating and utterly fruitless as the political process. American politics in particular has taken on such an artificial, dirty and bizarre quality that it’s no wonder other folks aren’t as delighted as we expect when we spread it on them.
One of my favorite things about politics is the manipulation of language to the end of convincing an apparently gullible public that a policy designed to screw them over is actually really good for them. The Bush administration has been superb at this.
What’s stuck in my craw today, however is wordplay that lots of politicians are fond of, the non apology. While listening to BBC Radio 4 this morning I heard Lord Somebody-or-another discussing the mess in Afghanistan. When asked what was going wrong, he answered “Mistakes were made”. This phrase is becoming pervasive in politics, often used in lieu of an actual admission of wrongdoing. Some examples:
1. US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez “I acknowledge mistakes were made…” regarding the US attorney firings. 13 March 2007
2. US Senator Joe Lieberman “So why do I trust President Bush in spite of the mistakes that were made?” February 2007
3. General David Richards “In the fog of war, mistakes were made…” in reference to a US air strike that killed numerous Afghanis. October 2006
4. Speaking on BBC One’s Question Time, former UK Foreign Secretary said “mistakes were made” by the US following the Iraq invasion.
5. A Nottingham youth offending team in charge of monitoring a teenager later convicted of murdering a jeweller has admitted “certain mistakes” were made.
And the trivial from today’s news…
6. Florida school administrators speaking about poorer than expected test scores admit that “mistakes were made”.
7. Ohio Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher says some mistakes were made in the state’s handling of a job worked by the wife of Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman.
8. And finally, three Hoosick Falls (New York) high school seniors admit that mistakes were made after they were caught drinking during an overnight school trip.
And we could go on and on. This political catchphrase has become such a ubiquitous non-apology, that folks have begun to accept it as one.
“Mistakes were made.”
“Oh, OK, well at least he feels bad about it, admits responsibility.”
But that is the problem. This catchphrase implies no personal responsibility by the speaker. The use of the passive voice relieves the speaker of any admission of personal wrongdoing. At best this statement is an attempt to protect the subordinates that actually made mistakes. At its worst it is an obstinate refusal to accept responsibility in the face of logic, facts and good sense.
The explosion of the use of this catchphrase is symptomatic of one of the biggest problems in American (and likely world) politics - an absolute refusal to accept responsibility for errors. Harry Truman famously kept a sign on his desk saying “The Buck Stops Here”. I think our current president’s desk sign would say: “The buck was stopped, but not by me.”
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