TPM had the lowdown this morning:

President Obama will speak today about the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and administration officials huddled all night in the Situation Room to coordinate the government response. An administration official told TPMDC that Obama was updated by his national security staff at 8:30 p.m. last night and told them "he expects an aggressive, coordinated effort by the U.S. government." Yesterday after the quake struck Obama asked aides to check on the status of embassy personnel and kicked the U.S. response into high gear. ... "Each agency is working overnight to ensure that critical resources are positioned to support the recovery effort, including efforts to find and assist American citizens in Haiti," the official said. "Both the White House and the State Department are facilitating donations to the International Red Cross through their websites."

Now before anyone says this should be expected, and is the normal response of a White House, I have one word for you: Katrina. President Bush, in fact, behaved in the exact opposite way from President Obama. Anytime there was even a rumor of a possible terrorist attack, Bush was in front of the microphone scaring everyone while saying he was on top of it and, shall we say, "kicking up America's response in high gear", even when there were no lives at stake at that moment. In contrast, as we all remember, President Bush was very slow to respond to the Hurricane Katrina disaster, figuring locals had it and that his heckuva job crony Brownie had it. And that disaster was on U.S. soil! People's lives were in the balance and 1,800 of them died.

Look instead at how President Obama has dealt with helping out Haitians:

Obama coordinates Haiti aid President Barack Obama placed a number of phone calls on Wednesday to coordinate disaster relief for Haiti. Shortly before 1 p.m. he spoke with U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten, according to the White House. Afterward he called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At 2:15, he spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and he called Mexican President Felipe Calderon at 2:23. And at 2:36, Obama talked with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that Obama also planned to contact Haitian President Rene Preval and speak with other international partners about aid.

Not only that, the Politico ends their report saying that President Obama has canceled his trip to Maryland where he was to discuss energy jobs which is very important to his political agenda. The point that can be made by the above bits of data is this: President Obama has made the decision that this crisis is top priority and is personally involved in making sure there is a rapid response to . . . . save lives.

You heard that right. The President of the United States thinks saving lives, lives in jeopardy right now in a foreign land not far from our shores is a higher priority than anything else. And he is seeing personally to that goal.

For those who have fallen into a bad habit of saying Obama is just like Bush when he does something to disappoint you, please try to remember this day. Today provides a window into what makes the President tick. People dying under rubble is intolerable to him, and he wants to do anything in his power to try to help as many people as is physically possible. That's his gut talking. And that is why he is a hero to me today.

Update

The President is adamant and impatient that people need to be helped, and helped quickly. ABC News:

President Obama to National Security Staff: I Want to Know Why It Is We’re Not Doing More Meeting with officials from his National Security Staff in the last hour, President Obama was direct. He’d just gotten off the phone with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to talk about rescue and relief efforts after the Haitian earthquake. A larger meeting in the Situation Room is scheduled for 7:15 pm EST. "I expect a full report at 7:15," the president told his team, according to NSS chief of staff Denis McDonough. "I want to know why it is we’re doing what we are -- and why it is we’re not doing more." As soon as he heard Haiti had experienced an earthquake that registered 7.3 on the Richter scale, with a 5.9 after-shock, McDonough – the one who first told the president the news of the earthquake – knew it would be bad.

Jake Tapper provides a timeline of what has happened at the White House in the last 24 hours. This was poignant:

After delivering public remarks about the earthquake at 10:20 AM, President Obama contacted US Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten and spoke with him around 12:40. "Are you and your family okay?" the president asked Merten, recalls a White House official present for the call. "Is your staff okay?" After Merten told him everyone with the US Embassy was present and accounted for, the president told him, "I told my team to be as aggressive and responsive as possible. I want to make sure you’re getting everything you need from Washington."

The whole article is worth a read.

Update 2

Ugh, yet shockingly predictable.

Update 3

Also some news about Secretary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton who if you recall is the U.N. special envoy to Haiti:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is cutting short her first diplomatic trip of the year and returning to Washington to oversee the United States’ response to the Haiti earthquake. The island of Haiti, the poorest in the Western hemisphere, holds a special place in Mrs. Clinton’s heart, according to her husband, former President Bill Clinton. "Hillary and I went to Haiti on a delayed honeymoon," Mr. Clinton said in an interview tonight with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. "We’ve loved that place for a long time."

And, breaking news on Twitter:

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates also cancels Pacific trip to deal with #Haiti crisis - Reuters

Update 4

To certain commenters who are insinuating that this is all words without action, they are simply wrong:

U.S. Military Responds to Haiti Crisis Even before a devastating 7.0-magnitute earthquake struck Tuesday, Haiti's infrastructure was shoddy at best, with construction codes virtually non-existent. Today, the U.S. military began a massive relief effort. Two C-130 transport planes flew in with military engineers and communications specialists. A Coast Guard cutter arrived in Port-au-Prince this morning. An aircraft carrier - the USS Carl Vinson - should get there by Friday. And as many as 5,500 U.S. troops are expected within days, as CBS News correspondent David Martin reports. ... Helping Haiti will require scores of ships and aircraft and thousands of American servicemen and women. The aircraft carrier Vinson is due to arrive within 48 hours loaded with helicopters. An amphibious task force with 2,200 marines on board will get there about two days later. And 3,500 paratroopers are on alert at Fort Bragg, N.C., available to prevent looting and control crowds. The first of them could be on the ground as early as tomorrow. Defense Secretary Robert gates told Gen. Fraser late Wednesday that this operation has the highest priority and he should not hesitate to ask for anything he wants.

Update 5

Wmtriallawyer points out that Bush was not only slow responding to Katrina, but also to the catastrophic Tsunami back in 2004. Bush waited a full three days, and only after being rebuked by the U,N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief:

Wednesday, December 29, 2004 CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- President Bush said Wednesday that he has formed an international coalition to respond to the massive tsunami disaster along coastlines of the Indian Ocean. The president interrupted his vacation at his Texas ranch to speak with reporters for the first time since Sunday's earthquake-triggered waves killed tens of thousands of people.

Oh, God (smacking my head), remember when we had to put up with this crap all the time of him always being on vacation and not giving a damn about anyone?

On Monday, Jan Egeland, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, criticized the world's "rich countries," saying, in general, that the amount of foreign aid they gave was "stingy." In response, Bush said he "felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed." Mentioning the $35 million in already-pledged U.S. aid, Bush said the United States is a "very generous, kind-hearted nation, and, you know, what you're beginning to see is a typical response from America."

And the old giving the finger to the U.N. schtick had to be thrown in, didn't it?

The contrast is even more stark after having just read that article.

Update 6

Thanks to LaurenMonica we have news:

Obama formally asks ex-Pres. George W. Bush to help ex-Pres. Clinton in #Haiti; Bush says he'll do whatever is necessary - NBC

As I said, President Obama is on a mission to save lives, and this act shows that is what it is about, not politics.

Update 7

TPM has a stellar Haiti Quake Wire up that is constantly updating.

Among this morning's highlights, President Obama has been unable to get in contact with the President of Haiti, an indication of how chaotic the situation is there. He has also talked with several world leaders and given his condolences to Brazil and the U.N. for the 16 confirmed dead U.N. staffers:

UN chief Ban Ki-moon says 16 UN personnel have been confirmed dead in an earthquake that flattened the UN's Haiti mission headquarters. Three were police officers from Jordan. One was from Argentina, and another from Chad. Eleven were from Brazil.

The President is still very active working on coordinating relief between all of the federal agencies as well as other countries. Meanwhile in Haiti:

Turning pickup trucks into ambulances and doors into stretchers, Haitians were frantically struggling to save those injured in this week's earthquake as desperately needed aid from around the world began arriving Thursday. Planes carrying teams from China, France and Spain flew into the Port-au-Prince airport with searchers and tons of food, medicine and other supplies — with far more promised soon from around the globe. Search and rescue squads from Iceland and Fairfax County, Virginia, had arrived the day before and some groups — from Cuba's government and Doctors Without Borders — used staff already in the country to offer aid immediately after the magnitude-7 quake struck on Tuesday. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that "tens of thousands, we fear, are dead" and said United States and the world must do everything possible to help Haiti surmount its "cycle of hope and despair." The U.S. was sending troops and ships along with aid to Haiti, and other nations were joining the effort to help the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation, where the international Red Cross estimated 3 million people — a third of the population — may need emergency relief.

Update 8

Some welcomed good news: