At one refugee camp on the grounds of the airport of Banda Aceh, hundreds of people spent a wet night under plastic sheets. Mothers nursed babies while others tried to light a fire with damp matches.

"With no help we will die," said Indra Syaputra. "We came here because we heard that we could get food, but it was nonsense. All I got was some packets of noodles." The rains pummeling the corpse-littered city were creating the conditions for cholera and other waterborne diseases to spread. Boxes of aid at Banda Aceh's airport soaked up water, making it difficult for workers loading cartons of water, crackers and noodles onto delivery vehicles.

The more I think about Jeb Bush going to Asia, the more I think it is a political opportunity. Make him a hero, increase his visibility for 2008. There is just no way to compare the Florida Hurricanes with the Asian Tsunami. They were miniscule by comparison and did not involve multiple foreign nations. As one political commentator opined:

"It's not that he brings a special expertise about emergency management," Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, said Friday. "It's that he's the president's brother, and symbols are important. This is partly a public-relations operation. The president got off on the wrong foot here and got a lot of criticism."

Another said:

Lance deHaven-Smith, a Florida State University political scientist, went further. "I take it to be a clear indication that he's interested in higher office," he said. "When you watch his denials about not running for president, he says, 'I like the job I'm doing.' You never him say, 'I'll never run for president.' It's a masterful appointment to send him overseas."

This was probably Pappa Bush's idea. The Bush family always expected it would be Jeb that would become President, not GW. It reeks of "payback time"--time for GW to make up for taking the limelight from his brother.

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