This was a great speech, acknowledging pain, sacrifice, and heroism; looking forward to a better, brighter tomorrow; offering an account of and proffering a solution to the special vulnerability of the neediest; and "presidentially" rising above partisanship to take responsibility for any governmental shortcomings and leading the way toward a better response in the future (followed by the folks in the states and localities).

There are some, of course, who will object to Bush’s "big government conservatism," but the emphases on self-help, home-ownership, and strategic government intervention to promote individual self-sufficiency represent the best of Bush’s "compassionate conservatism." This is an agenda I get support and one that it will be hard for his adversaries effectively to criticize.

Like the Power Line guys, I wonder about New Orleans, but let’s leave the details to be worked out later. For more, go here.