Tuesday afternoon President Obama tackled head-on the question of who’s to blame for the problems surrounding some of his nominees, including Tom Daschle.

 “I think I messed up,” the president told Katie Couric. “I screwed up in not recognizing the perception that … ordinary people are out there paying taxes every day and whether it’s an intentional mistake or not, it was sending the wrong signal. So again, this was something that was my fault.”

He made similar statements to all the network news anchors.

A clear, unfiltered, unequivocal acceptance of responsibility for a bungled effort is a good communications tool that must be used sparingly or else it begins to lose its meaning. Here it was used well.

The president wasted no time in making clear that he wasn’t satisfied with the way things were going and the message confusion being created: “I don’t want my administration to be sending a message that there are two sets of rules: one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes every day.”

Americans are suckers for a heartfelt apology – or at least the recognition that something has gotten “screwed up” and needs to change. This one should help the president, as long as he doesn’t need to make a habit of it.