Now that Janet Napolitano has admitted that perhaps the system did not, in fact, work when a nutso Nigerian boarded a Detroit-bound plane in Amsterdam on Christmas, we no longer have to revise our understanding of the terms “system” and “work.” It is clear now that having even your own father rat you out (as the banker dad of Umar Farouk Abdulmattalub did when he called the American Embassy in October, saying explicitly that he thought his son had turned terrorist in Yemen) is not enough to get you banned from travel to the US.

It is also clear that Christmas Day — not just an occasion for shopping but one of the holiest of Christian holidays — is treated no differently by the Transportation Security Administration than any other day. And people named Umar Farouk Abdulmattalub are treated no differently than passengers named Sean Keith Elder.

Not that I’m suggesting profiling —  heaven forfend. And I am well aware of the delicate balance that exists between the need for security and the right to privacy etc. As a TSA official lamented to the New York Times, “You are second-guessed one day and criticized another.” But unless by system we mean passengers voluntarily wrestling bomb-throwers to the ground, we need to revise our safety standards.

Having just flown across the country (and bracing for myself for the return flight this weekend) I, like you, have wondered how they could possibly make the experience any more uncomfortable and humiliating. But I don’t actually lump security checks in with charging for food and luggage. I think it just needs to be consistent.

Napolitano, who is probably as qualified to be head of Homeland Security as Tom Ridge was, is getting her lumps now. Her boss has already had a hard year of learning how far buck-passing will get you. The size of the watch list was a political football when Bush was president (remember when they wouldn’t let Sen. Edward Kennedy fly because he had the same name as some suspected terrorist?), and now Obama would like to pass the whole controversy — along with Iraq, Afghanistan and host of other headaches — back to the previous administration. Just as GWB did when he suggested that 9/11 was Clinton’s fault for having not taken out Bin Laden earlier.

But you get the credit and the blame for the things that happen on your watch. Even if that watch is stopped and only right twice a day.