Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., hugs Ethel Baptiste during a church service at First Emanuel Baptist Church in New Orleans Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Posted on 08/26/2007 1:14:45 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW ORLEANS - Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday the country cannot fail New Orleans again and that as president, he would keep the city in mind every day.
"The words never again cannot be another empty phrase," he said in front of one of the few rebuilt houses he saw on a brief tour of the city's Gentilly Woods section. "It cannot become another broken promise."
Obama is the first of several presidential candidates from both parties who are set to visit New Orleans in connection with the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday. President Bush also is expected to mark the occasion with a trip to the Gulf Coast.
Obama, whose day began at First Emanuel Baptist Church, said that long before Katrina, the nation had failed to lift up New Orleans, a city with persistent struggles such as poverty and poor public schools. He said that cannot happen again and that Americans have a "collective responsibility" to each other.
"Racial discord, poverty, the old divisions of black and white, rich and poor, it's time to leave that to yesterday," he said.
"In rebuilding, we've got an opportunity to do more than put up a foundation that for too long failed the people of New Orleans," he told congregants. Some snapped photos of him at the pulpit with their cell phones.
"In rebuilding, we've got an opportunity to build something better, a foundation that can put up with a lot, upon which the children of New Orleans can build their dreams."
Progress since Katrina has been slow, mired in bureaucracy and marred by fingerpointing among federal, state and local officials. Some small businesses are struggling, houses remain empty in vast sections of the city and people are frustrated.
From several residents, Obama heard about poor infrastructure and the slow pace of home rebuilding grants. He walked past empty lots overgrown with weeds rising above his head and saw Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers and signs advertising services such as mold remediation.
"I just feel like we've been forgotten about," resident JoAnn Fleming Bradley told him.
The Illinois senator criticized Bush for what he said was a lack of urgency in rebuilding the city. "I can promise you this: I will be a president who wakes up every morning and goes to bed every night with the future of this city on my mind," Obama said.
He outlined a plan he said would help restore the region by:
_providing grants for community policing in New Orleans, which has struggled with violence since Katrina;
_offering incentives such as loan forgiveness programs to try to attract doctors and college students;
_ensuring displaced residents who want to return have a place to stay;
_creating a national catastrophic insurance reserve, which he said would help homeowners struggling with their premiums.
At least two other leading Democratic candidates, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, also have outlined rebuilding plans and touched on similar themes.
"Part of the problem, I'll be honest with you, I just don't think there is a sense of urgency in the White House, where the president is cracking the whip, day in, day out, and saying, 'Why is it that we're not getting this done?'" Obama said.
"I mean, you think about the amount of attention that's been devoted to Iraq. 'All hands on deck.' I don't get that same sense that there's a focus on getting this work done," Obama said.
Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., hugs Ethel Baptiste during a church service at First Emanuel Baptist Church in New Orleans Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
New Orleans failed itself.
You beat me too it. The first line of defense are those in the line of fire. Those who sit around crying for Gubmint to take care of them are failing themselves.
—idiocy compounded—those stupid enough to live below sea level deserve to drown—
We should move everybody out of new orleans and put them in montana. Build them a wal-mart and a home depot, give them each some land, a double wide and $100,000. It would be cheaper for the rest of US and more fun.
So in other words,you empty suit,as far as President Osama is concerned the cities of St Louis,Portland,Raleigh, Milwaukee,Omaha,Richmond,Hartford,Dallas,Minot,Olympia,Tampa,Reno,Columbus,etc,etc...can just go pound sand
Is Osama Obama Hussein BLACK ENOUGH for the Chocolate City?
But...but..but..wasn't NOLA Rat controlled (both types) for about a zillion years?
Obama hugs Ethel Baptiste......
Ethel honey the lampshade from the party last night is still on your head.
Is Obama proposing that the Federal Government outlaw Democrats in Louisiana?
Actually,the Corps of Engineers failed New Orleans.
Are you sure that’s not Whoopi Goldberg? The hat, um, head gear is so her.
U.S.: "We Didn't Fail New Orleans the First Time!"
Actually, New Orleans and its residents failed America. When a bunch of lazy welfarites decide to sit their fat butts in Section 8 housing built in a flood plain and then are too pathetically (and predictably) lethargic to get out of the way of the rising waters, I don’t care to be blamed when the inevitable occurs (or sent the bill), thank you.
If you like what’s happened to virutally every American city where Obama’s fan base has taken control, just elect this race hustler pres (or vp, for that matter). Then, wait for the wipe out.
My first thought as well. 50 years of mismanagement and corruption topped off by a pretty tough spell of weather. Had the funds intended for the levees been used to improve them rather than to buy votes and reward cohorts, much of that damage would have been prevented. Had they not built "projects" they'd have had a more stable and productive population.
Dear Obama Hussein,
Actually, smug corrupt depraved local and state officials, overwhelmingly Demagogues, failed NOLA and all of us. Not to mention 8 years of Clintonistas and decades of national Demagogues who ignored the problems.....
People want to blame the feds or the Bush WH or the Army Corps of Engineers (well the last does merit significant censure), but if NOLA and the state had had decent officials over the past 40+ years far more would have been accomplished to prepare NOLA for just such a catastrophe. The levees should have been far better than they were, the evac plans should have been far better (and actually implemented), and the local/state officialdom should have been far better prepared to deal with such an obvious and predicted set of challenges.
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