George W. Bush's quiet trip to visit the wounded reminds me of the very different conduct by Bill Clinton in 2001. He was in Australia at the time of the 9/11 attacks and of course normal airplane travel was not possible for several days after that. Bush made special arrangements to allow Clinton to get back to the US. Clinton repaid the favor by rushing to New York to visit Ground Zero ahead of Bush.
I always thought it strange that both Clinton and Gore were conveniently out of the country during 9/11. If it had been Bush and Cheney the conspiracies would have gone nuclear.