During comments before being briefed on the post-Hurricane Gustav situation, Bush said Congress should "step up their need to address our dependence on foreign oil" and called upon the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to rescind the congressional ban on oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf. Bush ended the presidential prohibition on offshore drilling earlier.

"The president, I can tell you, was not thinking about politics," press secretary Dana Perino said during a news briefing. "He was thinking about the people there."

When asked about the timing -- the day after Hurricane Gustav struck the Louisiana coast -- to look askance at Congress, Perino said reiterated "the president wasn't trying to be overly political. He was stating a fact."

"I don't think that they (Bush's remarks) were at all even up to the line, in terms of being political, and I would say that our opponents, the Democrats, use every day, every opportunity to bash this president," Perino said. "And I just don't think we're going to worry about it."