NEWS FEATURE: What ever happened to mea culpa?

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The political year so far has been long on mistakes and short on apologies. “Mistakes were made,”President Clinton told reporters of his party’s fund-raising tactics.”A mistake had been made,”House Speaker Newt Gingrich said about his ethics violations. About a decade ago, President Reagan inaugurated the passive refrain.”Serious mistakes […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ The political year so far has been long on mistakes and short on apologies. “Mistakes were made,”President Clinton told reporters of his party’s fund-raising tactics.”A mistake had been made,”House Speaker Newt Gingrich said about his ethics violations.

About a decade ago, President Reagan inaugurated the passive refrain.”Serious mistakes were made,”he said during the Iran-Contra investigation into the sale of arms to Iran and funding of Nicaraguan rebels.


This bipartisan fondness for the passive voice begs the question: Why is it so hard for politicians to say,”I’m sorry.””Politicians love the active voice except when they’re in trouble,”says Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia professor of government.”It’s the nature of the beast. They are used to being hailed as conquerors … who are too special to make mistakes. They’re just poorly served by staff who work 18 hours a day and don’t take vacations.” Failure to admit culpability, Sabato says, often means the failure to remedy errors.”If (Clinton and Gingrich) have done nothing wrong,”he says,”they have nothing to atone for. If they admitted personal guilt, they might be more inclined to reach a bipartisan solution, which is the only hope for (campaign finance) reform.” Faulting one’s subordinates or the political system”is encouraged in a political culture that penalizes politicians for admitting their errors,”says Edward Weisband, a political science professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.”The culture argues that if you’ve made one mistake you are culpable in perpetuity.”And the incident may repeat itself in campaign ads.

A healthier society, he says, would see that admitting to an error in judgment”can indicate greater moral and ethical character. Civility requires us to (allow) public officials to admit when they are wrong. Admitting mistakes allows us to transcend them. There’s no transcendence through denial.” Clinton and Gingrich, Weisband believes,”should damn well apologize,”despite possible political repercussions”and make sure there’s reform in campaign financing.” And civility, he adds, demands the public accept apologies in good faith. “A person has the right to make peace in the world,”he says.

But Sabato says it’s a good idea to make sure an apology sticks. Twenty-four hours after Gingrich expressed remorse over his ethics violations,”he started attacking again and blaming others.”The Clintons, he charges, are also”by nature blamers. They’re never responsible. It’s always somebody else’s fault.” Not all politicians have been loathe to express remorse. Former Defense Secretary William Perry publicly accepted responsibility for failing to prevent the deaths of 19 airmen in the 1996 terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia _ an apology that did not hinder his career, Weisband says.

In 1979, George Wallace, former Alabama governor, showed up unannounced at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once served as pastor, and expressed remorse for the pain he had caused blacks.

And last October, he apologized to Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood, the two blacks who tried to enroll at the University of Alabama in 1963 only to find the governor blocking the entrance.”The part that was so meaningful is that he came full circle,”said Jones.”He went from saying, `Segregation now; segregation tomorrow; segregation forever’ to admitting he was wrong.” Wallace, says Jones,”understood his personal responsibility for his actions.”The apology”was a cleansing for him … and it had an effect on a lot of people of all races. It was the beginning of a new era amidst so much hopelessness and so much racial tension.” And though she notes that some doubt Wallace’s sincerity, Jones sees his repentance and his appointment of African-Americans to government posts”as a genuine effort to right a wrong.” David Azbell, spokesman for the Wallace Foundation, believes that the governor knew he could change course and rely on his constituents’ support.”(They) would run through a wall if Gov. Wallace asked them to. I don’t think other politicians feel that secure.” Still, it took Wallace more than three decades to say”I’m sorry”to Jones. And, she believes, only history will show which leaders will express remorse. Jones, a Clinton supporter, says its possible the president 40 years from now”may apologize for something that he did.”

MJP END LIEBLICH

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