He might have been able to save his skin as a Senator if he had just remained silent, but if he had been President and said that, he'd have been toast unless he came up with a good explanation for it and defended it convincingly. That's the analogy to Bush. Staying silent in the face of widespread criticism will not improve his public relations.
Nonetheless, he hasn't remained completely silent. I do applaud him for having acknowledged the problems, and saying that it's unacceptable. And the political problem isn't as severe as it seems. Democrats in Washington are acknowledging - albeit begrudgingly and obliquely - that everything wasn't exactly hunky-dory at the local level either. It's mostly just the radical moonbats that are jumping up and down yelling "Bush's fault! Bush's fault!"
If I were to advise the President to say anything further on the matter, it would just be to promise a full accounting after the crisis has passed, to reiterate that there were problems at the state and local level as well, and to appeal to the American people to shun vicious rhetoric until the facts come out.