Of course, he's had nearly THREE YEARS to think about this.
The President had half a second. I still believe he did the right thing.
What should he have done? Jump into a phone booth and flown around the world backwards to turn back time?
"Of course, he's had nearly THREE YEARS to think about this.
The President had half a second. I still believe he did the right thing.
What should he have done? Jump into a phone booth and flown around the world backwards to turn back time?"
The President was aware enough to understand it was a "defining moment" not just for him, but for our country. Not only did he have a classroom of children watching his every move, but the Whitehouse Press Corps was there, for all the President knew transmitting "live" worldwide.
Having read everything available on this, including the 9/11 Report, I found his self control admirable.
I have no doubt Kerry would have FREAKED OUT. None what so ever.
And I have yet to meet a person that didn't think later that terrible day "Thank God Gore isn't President."
President Bush has validated that gut feeling a hundred times since, and I expect he will in fact be rewarded with a second term because of it.
Yes, he had a very brief time to collect both his emotions and his thoughts.
Since the American Revolution, there have been exactly TWO presidents other than George W. Bush who had to face a nation-threatening attack on U.S. soil from a foreign enemy: James Madison when the British attacked in the War of 1812, and FDR when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. To the best of my knowledge, history does not record precisely what each man did the moment they were first told of the attack. But I think it's safe to say that neither man dashed about hither and yon just to satisfy their critics.
More to the point, because the experience has been so rare in our history, no president can say precisely what he would do at such a moment. It seems to me more than entirely reasonable for a president to take a brief time to collect his thoughts, collect his emotions, give his staff a bit of time to get an initial handle on things, and then react publicly.