Bush: “I’m not up for this. I quit.”

It won’t be long before George W. Bush speaks to the nation from Jackson Square, a beautiful and relatively unscathed New Orleans landmark. He’ll talk about taking responsibility and moving forward, about the heroism and sacrifice of those involved in the rescue and relief efforts, about the American qualities that will make rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast not only possible, but imperative.

What he won’t say are any of the things he should say. So we’re taking the liberty of saying them for him.

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My fellow Americans: I’m speaking to you tonight from the heart of New Orleans, Ground Zero of what will prove to be the worst natural, environmental and humanitarian disaster in the history of our great country. I’m here to pay tribute to all the men and women who died in this historic storm, and all the men and women who survived it, and all the men and women who have served and will continue to serve so bravely in bringing succor and hope to this city, to this region, to this nation.

Make no mistake: we will rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and God willing, it will be a better place when we’re finished, a more beautiful and just place, than it was before this tragedy struck.

It’s clear now that mistakes were made at every level of government in preparing for Hurricane Katrina and in coping with its aftermath. Where the federal government has failed, I take full responsibility. But for now, we must devote all of our country’s resources and greatness to helping our fellow Americans and restoring what they have lost.What we need now is leadership, to right the wrongs that Katrina exposed and to move forward in the recovery.

It’s also clear, to me, to my family and to the country, that I am not the man who can provide that leadership. I led you into this disaster, but I cannot lead you out.

I just can’t.

So I come here tonight not just to rally the nation around this great challenge, this great cause, but to announce my resignation.

I know this will come as a shock. It may seem like the last thing this country needs, faced as we are with a deadly war in Iraq and the imposing challenges before us here at home. But it is what we need.

While people were drowning throughout the Gulf Coast, and dying of disease and hunger and dehydration, I failed to respond. And it wasn’t just me; virtually everyone I appointed to a position of responsibility in my administration failed as well.

Two days after the storm hit, I relaxed at an Arizona golf resort. As the storm vented its fury on the Gulf Coast and an enormous human tragedy unfolded, my secretary of state went shopping for shoes and took in a sold-out Broadway show.

The man I appointed to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown, was wholly unqualified for that job and his response showed it. And yet, he had more experience at emergency management than Michael Chertoff, his superior, whom I appointed to lead the Department of Homeland security, and whose response also failed every test.

As some people died, as others cried out for help, these two men had the audacity, the inhuman gall, to blame the victims for their suffering; suffering that was greatly exacerbated by the personal and professional failings of Mr. Brown and Mr. Chertoff.

I want to say a word about FEMA. FEMA’s incoherent response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992 may well have cost my father a second term in the White House. In response to that political reality and the human suffering created by FEMA’s failings, my father’s successor appointed James Lee Witt to head the agency. And Mr. Witt did an outstanding job, building an emergency management organization the equal of any in the world. As governor of Texas, I experienced firsthand the results of his efforts, and offered him the praise he was due.

But when it came time for me to set the direction of that agency, I chose to place my campaign manager, Joe Allbaugh, in charge of it. Almost immediately and with devastating effect, he began to demolish Mr. Witt’s organization. When Joe left to become a lobbyist, in which capacity he is, not coincidentally, raking in massive reconstruction contracts for his clients as I speak, he recommended his college roommate as his successor. I accepted his recommendation, and we have seen the tragic consequences of that decision.

For those reasons and others, I am announcing tonight the appointment of James Lee Witt to head the relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts, and I am giving him the authority to hire and fire whomever he sees fit, to mobilize whatever resources he needs, from whatever agency can provide them, with no questions asked.

I won’t be here to oversee that effort. Neither will any member of my cabinet. Tonight, I demand their resignations. If any of them refuse to resign, I will fire them before I leave office.

The Constitutional order of presidential succession is clear. I can’t fire my vice president, Dick Cheney, but I can and do say here tonight that he is no more qualified to lead this country forward than I am. Dick, for the good of this nation, resign. After tonight you will no longer enjoy what little confidence the nation has in your abilities, so please, go quietly.

Nor can I fire Denny Hastert, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or Senate president pro tempore Ted Stevens, but I can and do say here tonight that neither of those two men are qualified to lead this country forward. I urge them to resign their offices if not their seats, and I urge each member of the House of Representatives to work as one in choosing a new Speaker who can assume the duties that I have so horribly failed to execute.

Set aside politics and partisanship. Look into your hearts, and for the first time in this new century, do what’s best for this country and your fellow Americans.

In the five years since I took office, I have presided over the most grotesque misadministration in our history. I have made every effort to undercut the provisions our country has made to better the lot of the poor and weak among us. I have led the country into a ruinous war while leaving at large the man who perpetrated the most grievous criminal act against this country, ever.

While our soldiers fought and died in Iraq, as they continue to do, I cut taxes for the people I know and love the best, the people of my class. I sought to undo the program, Social Security, that has served our elders so very well since it was inaugurated by the man whose mantle of compassion and wartime leadership I have shamelessly tried to appropriate.

I have presided over an administration whose corruption, greed, malice and incompetence is unequaled in our history and will, God willing, never be equaled in our future.

I have permitted my subordinates, time and again, to undermine our national security. That’s you, Karl, for revealing the identity of a covert CIA agent working on one of the most serious threats we face, the uncontrolled proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. That’s you, Condi, for engineering and defending the exposure of an al Qaeda informant who, until the moment you exposed him, was providing vital information to our allies in Pakistan and Great Britain.

I have crippled vital departments within our federal government. The EPA no longer serves as the guardian of our environment but as a tool for advancing the short-term interests of industries and corporations without whose largesse I could never have taken office. Wherever scientists in any agency have spoken out against the destructive policies promoted by my administration, I have encouraged my employees to intimidate, silence and fire them.

Where corruption is exposed, my first instinct has been to hide it. Where incompetence has been exposed, my first instinct has been to defend and reward it. I have not welcomed good advice, but punished those who offered it. In my mind, the truth has become a malleable thing that takes whatever face I wish of it.

I know all this now. I know that I have led this country perilously close to ruin. And for the first time in my life, I am prepared to stand accountable. I surrender any immunity I may enjoy from prosecution. You will see no last-minute pardons from me, for myself or anyone else in my administration who may stand accused of crimes.

I am prepared to stand accountable, and it is your duty, your solemn and necessary duty, to see that I am held to account.

And for the first time in my life, I am truly sorry for what I have done. I do not deserve your forgiveness, and nor do I seek it, for what I have done is not subject to forgiveness in this world. I can only say, I’m sorry.

This country will move forward. This country will prevail. No one man, no matter his strengths or frailties or sins, can stand in the way of Americans who have determined to do what must be done. So it will be done.

Thank you. Good night. May God bless and save America.