Hugh Hewitt and Powerline both note that the president was on target, and most effective, with his speech lastnight. I agree, having watched the president's speech in a replay late lastnight. The president was animated and upbeat, projecting the optimism about rebuilding the highly damaged areas that Americans expect from the chief executive at a time like this. Hugh notes that other dangers are lurking on the horizon for the American people, particularly the Avian flu, and urges the administration to construct an effective policy in preparation for its inevitable arrival. He also notes Indonesia reported its fifth case of the flu hours ago.

Indeed, yesterday the chief of the World Health Organization warned that a form of Avian Flu that is transmissable between humans is inevitable:

New York: Avian flu will mutate and become transmissible by humans and the world has no time to waste to stop it becoming a pandemic, the head of the World Health Organisation said.

Lee Jong-wook, a South Korean doctor, delivered his stark warning on Thursday as the US worked to rally states behind a new US plan to fight the disease.

Indonesia yesterday said tests had shown bird flu killed a woman who died last week in a Jakarta hospital after she was admitted with pneumonia and flu-like respiratory problems. She is Indonesia's fourth human death from the virus.

Dr Lee warned: "Human influenza is coming, we know that, and no government, no leaders can afford to be caught off-guard.

ABC News asks "Are we ready?"

It could kill a billion people worldwide, make ghost towns out of parts of major cities, and there is not enough medicine to fight it. It is called the avian flu.

This week, the U.S. government agreed to stockpile $100 million worth of a still-experimental vaccine, while at the United Nations Summit in New York, both the head of the U.N. World Health Organization and President Bush warned of the virus' deadly potential.

"We must also remain on the offensive against new threats to public health, such as the Avian influenza," Bush said in his speech to world leaders. "If left unchallenged, the virus could become the first pandemic of the 21st century."

According to Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Bush's call to remain on the offensive has come too late.

"If we had a significant worldwide epidemic of this particular avian flu, the H5N1 virus, and it hit the United States and the world, because it would be everywhere at once, I think we would see outcomes that would be virtually impossible to imagine," he warns.

One hopes that the administration is working on a serious plan to educate and help protect the American public from the seemingly certain arrival of this deadly virus.

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Related:

Avian Flu Update
Avian Flu Latest
Avian Flu Economic Worries
Avian Flu Vaccine Experimentally Effective
Terrorism And Avian Flu
Strategy Lacking For Spreading Avian Flu
Avian Flu Is Spreading
Are We Ready For The Avian Flu?
Flu Pandemic
WHO Warns Of Avian Flu Pandemic

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Update: La Shawn Barber wasn't massiely impressed with the amount the president intends to spend.