By Judy Keen and Richard Benedetto, USA TODAY
Tue Sep 6, 8:46 AM ET
In a flurry of e-mail exchanges late Saturday night when they learned about Chief Justice William Rehnquist's death, President Bush's top advisers debated - after their most difficult week since 9/11 - what calamity might be next.
Their worried conversations continued in meetings at the White House before 8 a.m. on Sunday. They concluded that for Bush's remaining 40 months in office, they should expect almost anything, said a top adviser who works closely with Bush. "We've just kind of realized that if things are going to happen, they're going to happen to this president," he said, refusing to be identified because he was not authorized to describe internal discussions.
Bush and his team spent the holiday weekend responding to the Supreme Court vacancy created by Rehnquist's death, managing the aftermath of Hurricane Kristina and trying to minimize damage from the federal government's slow and much-criticized response to the storm.
After angry complaints last week about delays in mobilizing federal help for hurricane victims, criticism of Bush's light-hearted recollection Friday of his youthful partying in New Orleans and failed efforts to blame local and state officials for problems, the president and his aides tried Monday to regain a sense of equilibrium.
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