[utahagen]

Somebody screwed up alright, and it wasn't someone in the White House. Your comment, “...should have left at 6:30am” is spot-on. People who are punctual are consistently on time, and people who are late are always late; it comes down to how much you're willing to inconvenience yourself for the sake of showing up on time. When I lived in Los Angeles and people would justify tardiness by citing “traffic”, I'd point out that I lived in the same city and I was always on time.

GWB is known to be a maniac about being on time, while Bill CLinton and Obama are often late. Very telling.

[HIDEK6]

When I lived in Los Angeles and people would justify tardiness by citing “traffic”

And they act like it is some sort of big surprise. "Who could have known?"

[cschroe]

Before I escaped the DC rat race, I made the commute from about 15 miles north of stafford into DC (pretty close to the White House, as well). What a nightmare of a drive even taking HOV lanes - and that was more than a decade ago, can’t image what its like now.

Punctuality is important. The leader of the trip failed first by agreeing to a time that required navigating rush hour traffic, second by once the time was established not planning an appropriate departure time, and third by not standing up and accepting responsibility.

Those kindergartners can learn at least three great lessons from the event, sadly, its likely that no one will talk to them about those lessons.

[RatsDawg]

I went to a GWB event in Kalamazoo Michigan in 2004, and he was like 30 mins late. However he did call from his limo on the high-way, and they played the phone call over the PA to let us know he was on his way, and that he was sorry for being late.