BLITZER:....John King is here. This is quite a contrast from three years ago, when the president was on vacation as Katrina was moving forward and he basically flew over.
You remember that picture of him looking out of Air Force One, flying over Katrina. They're deliberately and anxiously taking a very aggressive, active step right now. The president canceling his trip here to St. Paul to address this convention.
KING: A very different tone and a very different assessment from all of the federal officials. That picture is actually interesting, if you go back and look at it. President Bush looked out the window. They took that picture from Air Force One.
He did not want to land at that time because he thought he would take so much of the law enforcement and security personnel and be a distraction, so that picture is actually unfair.However, the overall federal response, everybody would concede from the White House on down, was beyond disappointing. It was horrible. As was -- many people criticized state and local officials. But that picture became a metaphor for it.
The picture itself was actually a smart decision by the president not to put Air Force One on the ground at a time that he would distract so much attention. But it became part of the greater narrative, which was a huge federal failure.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/31/le.01.htmlAired August 31, 2008 - 10:00 ET