We're in an oil crisis - and he's is going to "tour" the Gulf region. He's on TV telling us to conserve fuel - how much fuel will be wasted on his visit to the Gulf? What will this acomplish, other than give him some positive press on the evening news?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9157866/
WASHINGTON - President Bush will tour the hurricane devastated Gulf Coast region on Friday and has asked former Presidents Clinton and Bush to lead a private fund-raising campaign to help victims recover, the White House said Thursday.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush will survey the hardest-hit areas by helicopter, then tour some locations on the ground.
“The president has wanted to visit the area as soon as possible,” McClellan said. “We didn’t go sooner because we didn’t want to be disruptive of efforts on the ground.”
Bush had said earlier Thursday that thousands more victims of Hurricane Katrina still need to be rescued and acknowledged the frustration of people who need food, water and shelter.
“I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday,” he said in a live interview in the Roosevelt Room of the White House with ABC’s “Good Morning America” program. “I understand the anxiety of people on the ground. ... So there is frustration. But I want people to know there’s a lot of help coming.”
Bush has directed his staff to try to assess the economic impact of the storm as the administration prepares an emergency budget request for Congress. Bush was hearing his economic advisers’ preliminary estimate in the afternoon after a lunch with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
“The hurricane does have some national impact,” McClellan said.
Bush asked his father and Clinton to lead the fund-raising campaign after their successful similar efforts in the wake of the Asian tsunami that hit last December. He made the request of them Wednesday and the three planned a Thursday afternoon meeting in the Oval Office.
McClellan said that Bush trusted the view of administration officials that the response effort so far is “going well.”
But, he added, “The people on the ground who needed help yesterday, he certainly understands their frustration.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9157866/
WASHINGTON - President Bush will tour the hurricane devastated Gulf Coast region on Friday and has asked former Presidents Clinton and Bush to lead a private fund-raising campaign to help victims recover, the White House said Thursday.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush will survey the hardest-hit areas by helicopter, then tour some locations on the ground.
“The president has wanted to visit the area as soon as possible,” McClellan said. “We didn’t go sooner because we didn’t want to be disruptive of efforts on the ground.”
Bush had said earlier Thursday that thousands more victims of Hurricane Katrina still need to be rescued and acknowledged the frustration of people who need food, water and shelter.
“I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday,” he said in a live interview in the Roosevelt Room of the White House with ABC’s “Good Morning America” program. “I understand the anxiety of people on the ground. ... So there is frustration. But I want people to know there’s a lot of help coming.”
Bush has directed his staff to try to assess the economic impact of the storm as the administration prepares an emergency budget request for Congress. Bush was hearing his economic advisers’ preliminary estimate in the afternoon after a lunch with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
“The hurricane does have some national impact,” McClellan said.
Bush asked his father and Clinton to lead the fund-raising campaign after their successful similar efforts in the wake of the Asian tsunami that hit last December. He made the request of them Wednesday and the three planned a Thursday afternoon meeting in the Oval Office.
McClellan said that Bush trusted the view of administration officials that the response effort so far is “going well.”
But, he added, “The people on the ground who needed help yesterday, he certainly understands their frustration.”
