"It's got to be doubly devastating" down there

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Approaching New Orleans, Air Force One dropped down from an altitude of 29,000 to 1,700 feet to give the president a better view of the devastation.

"Look, look!" one fatigued refugee pointing up at the approaching plane excitedly yelled. Frantic people stranded on rooftop islands in seas of sewage and sludge excitedly waved their shirts and bedsheets in anxious joy. Food and bottles of fresh water were about to come cascading from the skies, dropped from the enormous jet.

One hungry mother, cradling her 18 month old daughter who'd stopped crying, falling suspiciously silent hours earlier, thought she'd seen the plane's wings dip acknowledging their desperate waves and screams. If she did, it was the only acknowledgment they would get. No supplies fell from the sky. The jet zoomed past.

Meanwhile in the jet above the desperate thousands just 1,700 feet below , the president sat posed before press cameras photographing him as he peered out at the misery below. ""It’s devastating," Bush declared. "It’s got to be doubly devastating on the ground."

Back on the rooftop below, excitement returned to hopeless despair. The man, so excited moments before, glanced one more time at the aircraft passing so low above. Recognizing the blue and white plane's presidential seal on its side, he declared, "It's Air Force One! It's only the fuckin' President!" his voice trailed off.

A couple hours later, the president's plane touched down in Washington. The president emerged, descending from his plane, cradling his dog safely beneath one arm and waving to cameras with the other.