>According to Bill Sammon's book Fighting Back, Bush's gaze flitted about the room—the children, the press, the floor, his staff—while his mind raced about everything he did not yet know.
It seems quite un-presidential to think "Let me just sit here for another 10 minutes with these kids so they don't panic."... He (with 22 years of hindsight) could've just said "I'm sorry kids, something's come up that need my attention, so I'm going to have to go now.". Of course he didn't have any power to actually alter anything at that very moment (the attacks were basically done), but it was during such a fog of war that he/his team wouldn't have known yet that they were powerless...