President Bush visited tornado-devastated Greensburg to express the care and concern of Americans and their ever-caring, always concerned government:

The president said he came to Kansas to tour the wreckage in the hopes that he could “touch somebody’s soul by representing our country.”

…

He offered prayers, condolences, praise and offers of aid.

“Whatever help is in the law (will) be here as quickly as possible,” Bush said. “While there was a dark day in the past, there’s brighter days ahead.”

The homeowner, Kaye Hardinger, said people in the town appreciated the president’s visit.

“It let us know he cared about us,” she said.

She said she told Bush she would have “invited him in for a cup of coffee, but I didn’t have time to dust.”

When exactly did the president of the United States become the country’s pastor, offering prayers, comfort and assurance in difficult times? Are there no pastors in Greensburg or neighboring towns to do that work? Are there no churches or synods in Kansas, no bishops, no volunteers whose many hands and kind hearts make light the work? Did we really need the president of the United States to say “there’s brighter days” ahead? Do those words mean more because he said them? Are they more true?

Is anyone better off because they know that George W. Bush “cares” about them? How is this any different from similar feelings toward, oh, say Franklin Delano Roosevelt?