For use: Sunday, November 8, 2000 and thereafter

mfinley.com: "I'm Sorry"

by Michael Finley

I was thinking about the word sorry -- specifically, how we would all have forgiven George Bush if, when the news hit of his having been arrested a million years ago in Maine, if he had just said, "I'm sorry I didn’t let this get out earlier. It was dumb, and wrong."

Americans are suckers for sorry. Bill Clinton, a charmer like W, said he was sorry for much worse things, and doggone if we didn’t sigh audibly and let him continue being president.

You know, it doesn’t even have to be all that sincere. We know it’s hard to say "I'm sorry." Say it half-asked, that's good enough.

Oh sure, say "I'm sorry," and there will be those who call out loudly, "You certainly are!" But most of us get it. Being sorry is quintessentially human -- it says, "I'm not perfect, but at least I know I'm not perfect." People who never apologize, well. You just don't know what they are thinking.

This may sound trivial, but there is a pattern here, and it relates to the meta-issue of the campaign, character.

Consider these other opportunities to say "I'm sorry."

Your campaign surrogates spread malicious news about John McCain's Jewish campaign manager. You say, "Whoah, that was wrong -- we'll stop doing that."

You call a reporter a major league asshole, and the whole world hears you. But asked if you are sorry about the incident, you say you’re sorry that people overheard you.

You unintentionally annoy millions of Catholics and blacks by giving a speech at a school known for racial and religious intolerance. You're not a bigot, and you apologize for giving that impression by not speaking out against your hosts -- right? Except in this case, you write a letter to the Cardinal in New York explaining yourself -- not apologizing. And you never explain or apologize to black people.

There are other instances that elude me at this moment. My point is, despite George Bush's easy manner, there is something a little stiff in him, a little bristly, that does not want to admit ever being wrong. If he does, he does it in a joke. That's good ... but it's not sorry.

Al Gore screw up a lot, too. And I'm sure there are times when he should have apologized but he didn’t. But what sticks out in my mind is how he apologized for misspeaking in the second debate. "I'm sorry, and I will try to do better." It looked kind of awful, and who can qualify it for sincerity. But it was still, at the very least, good politics.

Lately Gore has been saying "I'm sorry" a lot. For changing outfits at the drop of a hat, for recombining circumstances in his anecdotes until they are not quite what really happened -- Texas floods, dog arthritis. He' sorry for being boring, for being stiff, for being uncharming, and even for being a bit of an ass at times.

People who read this know I've been awful tough on George Bush the last six months.  The truth is, I find him pretty interesting, not at all stupid, and at times frighteningly charismatic, as last week in California -- he had the stamp of victory all over him.

Not no more, though. I think Gore will win the election now. It isn’t right that this 11th hour story should do him in. But he had it in his power to flush the story out months ago. It was the sort of question that every candidate is vetted for: "Have you ever been arrested?"

Something inside him, something proud, and flinty, and maybe a little in denial, wouldn’t let him fess up.

And now it looks like he's going to lose.

You live by the character issue, and talk of accountability and integrity and responsibility and honor ... you die by it.

Sorry.