What President Bush did the first 7 minutes or first 40 minutes is meaningless. Any public actions would have been symbolic. He would have been accussed of playing politics while under attack.
President Bush has been called a cowboy for taking too much action and he is accussed of not taking enough action.
The fact is that the US was attacked. President Bush responded overtly in Afghanistan and Iraq, and covertly elsewhere. The terrorists awakened a great giant and all countries around the world must accept it.
I don't get the criticism regarding Bush and his reading to school children. Bush knew he had competent people to take of the initial things that had to be done...he also felt that he did not want to upset or unduly alarm the children he was with.
It was an act of desperation on Kerry's part to bring out what Bush did or supposedly should have done!