Totally unreasonable. There is nothing the President can do in Washington D.C. that he cannot do on Air Force One. And if he'd arrived right in the middle of all that chaos, what would you expect him to do? Run into the flames and drag people out himself?
Besides, at about 6:00 pm, he was in Washington.
Chaos indeed. By early afternoon downtown DC was an armed camp. The chaos was at the Pentagon, where people were dying. Rummy, not one of my favorite guys, personally ran to the impact zone and helped carry wounded out until dragged away by staff and security.
And what one thing the President can do in times of crisis from Washington that he can’t do from a bunker at an AFB. He can appear Presidential and reassure the country. Lincoln was in DC during the Civil War, surrounded by assassination plotters. It’s not unreasonable to expect the President to exhibit leadership.
I’m not asking for courage in this case, since I don’t think he was in any danger that day. How exactly would you attack the POTUS after all planes are grounded, traffic barred from core of DC, and all Law Enforcement on hair trigger alert.
This was a defining historic moment and I have heard it from many people over the years that his decision to fly around all day made him look indecisive.