The fact of the matter was that he was the president and the country was attacked. He needed to leave immediately in order to protect him. Presumably, nothing was yet known about the extent o the atack, or whether he was a target. You don't lose the Commander in Chief for the sake of some frightened children. If they did a bomb strike against him, the kids would have been taken out with him anyway - so the best thing for them would have been for him to leave pronto.
Yes, it should have been done calmly so as to not have unnecessarily frightened the children. And no, you don't expect him to figure out all of the potential situational liabilities on a moment's notice, out of context - that's the Secret Service's job. They should have swarmed him, insisted he take his leave from the kids calmly but immediately, and gotten him the hell out of there.
IMHO
Please...he did the right thing. Jumping up and leaving with his hair on fire would have accomplished nothing but scaring the kids to death. Pres Bush had an incedibly capable administration...10-15 minutes did not make a difference as the damage was already done. Unlike the dims who would have immediately milked the situation for political purposes. If the enemy had known where Bush was, don’t you think they would have taken that area out first? It worked out.
bull crap...he did the exact right thing...his plane wasnt even ready for 45 minutes...
Even now the kids present at the time tell you he did the right thing...
and you still scoff...