WASHINGTON -
President Bush turned to hurricane management mode on Friday, pledging at his administration's disaster headquarters to keep a close eye on the federal response to Hurricane Rita.
Bush had planned to go to San Antonio but dropped that visit because search and rescue teams there were being relocated as the huge storm shifted course, the White House said. Bush still was going to Colorado to monitor Rita's progress from the U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs. The facility was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as the military's homeland security command center.
Bush was trying to walk a line between helping in a crisis and being seen as interfering. "There will be no risk of me getting in the way, I promise you," the president said.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the
Federal Emergency Management Agency was repositioning search and rescue teams closer to the storm "and we didn't want to slow that decision up in any way."http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050923/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush;_ylt=AjTLSqdJWNHV1FYcdjxNb_6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-Did David Gregory's questions prompt that "trying to walk a line" thing?