You're right. Even if he had failed, a credible effort would have made him a tragic hero.
There was just a black reporter on CNN interviewing a woman in the French quarter who owns a club there and she said people could walk in like it was ready for business - no damage. She thought the damage in the rest of the city was awful or something like that. The guy said what did you think about the slow response. She went on to say that she though Bush did just right, etc., etc. I'm surprised CNN even showed it - probably was live and they'll cut later. He made some comment to the camera about the slow response (even though she wouldn't be goaded into saying what he wanted).