Agree on taking responsibility. There are a lot of excuses he could have made: economy, bad PR firm, etc. By taking blame he can now move on to fix things.
Also note, this is a perfect response in a PR crisis - taking responsibility (if not legal responsibility), and not behaving like it's everyone else's fault but your own.
If I buy something, and the vendor screws up, if they give me a bunch of excuses, I am more likely to think they'll screw up again. If the vendor takes personal responsibility, there is less chance that they'll make the same mistake again.
