We seem to interpet Harry Truman's famous maxim a bit differently.

To me it's an expression of principle, Truman saying that it doesn't matter whether or not the blame can be pinned on him for some specific problem, but rather that as President he is morally responsible for everything that happens everywhere in the government. He's rejecting not just fingerpointing, but specifically the kind of fingerpointing in which a subordinate is thrown to the wolves to protect the President. Harry's acknowledging that everyone in the Executive Branch works for him, answers to him up the chain of command and receives orders down the chain of command; and that while the President doesn't personally hire but a tiny fraction of the government, he's the one who hires the immediate subordinates to whom he delegates responsibility. Truman understood that all authority is delegated from an executive, and his choices about that are his responsibility too. There is not one individual in the Executive branch for whom Bush is not responsible.

In this instance, I'm arguing that very kind of moral responsibility. Bush not only picked Chertoff and Brown, but their department was designed and created on his watch too. Bush has made executive decisions about priorities that have been translated into budgetary decisions, choosing to put resources behind the war in Iraq while reducing funds for domestic security. His taxation policies determine the government's overall resources, and whether we have any cushion to respond to extraordinary events like this, and the flexibility to rearrange priorities without another furious debate over taxation policy.

While people argue furiously over which individual is responsible for which screwup, I'm only partially interested in that. To me it's a process of determining who in addition to Bush should be held responsible. But by no stretch of the imagination will it be a process of exonerating Bush. He can't be exonerated because he is President of the United States and this happened on his watch and under his direction.

"The buck stops here" even for George W. Bush.