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.
I don't blame Obama for exploiting this. He's a typical Rat politician.
The problem is that Bush and the administration have been totally curled up in the fetal position when it came to addressing BS attacks on his response to Katrina. When he called Governor Blanco to warn of the storm and ask if he could federalize the response, and was told no, he should have immediately held a press conference:
"Today I called Governor Blanco of Louisiana to ask if relief operations if and when Hurrican Katrina hits New Orleans can be federalized. The Governor promptly told me no. Therefore, if and when Katrina hits, it's her ass and not mine."
Always amazing how the separation-of-church-and-state crowd does its campaigning... The crowd can't be suffering that much - cell phones with cameras? Geez, my cell phone doesn't have a camera. Guess I'll ask FEMA for a new one.
Hey Barack:
Listen up.
If I choose to live in a home ten feet below sea level, and it is destroyed by flood-waters, will the government have failed me too?
Tell me, if I walk across a busy freeway and get struck by a car and killed, will the government have failed me too?
If I choose to lean off a bridge and fall on rocks and die, will the government have failed me too?
Where does it end? When am I judged to have used faulty judgement? When do I have to take responsibility?
I am ashamed of the people who are incable of admitting they made a terrible choice. And a terrible choice it was. Sooner or later it was bound to happen and it did.
Now shut the hell up!
He is the Dem gift horse that keeps on giving.
He’d make a fine Veep candidate for the DemRat ticket. lol
Can you imagine him as President for four years — running around from one racially motivated event to another.
Fortunately, this guy is toast, and won’t make it to the VP plank either...
The only thing the government of these US failed in was doing anything in the first place
As much as I respect and admire the President I think he should have realized he could have parted the flood waters and diverted them back to sea and the left/MSM still would have criticized him. He should have just saved the 100-200 billion that will be poured into the local democrat crooks and welfare scam artists and condemed NO as a disaster site to be roped off.
It seems as if he and Hillary are competing to see who can make the most senseless statement in public. What he doesn’t have is Hillary’s die-hard following.
Hillary has supported a man who cheated on her and her child (and most assuredly still is), has lost his license to practice law, disgraced himself before the American public from the Oral Office... there’s a mile long list. Despite this Hillary’s followers are convinced she’s her own woman and stands tall before women as a shining example. I agree, but it’s not an example I’d want my daughter to aspire too. But then I’m not your average Democrat.
Hillary could cut up a picture of Jesus in public, shoot a rival candidate, catch her husband in bed with another woman on a street corner and join them, be shown selling more national secrets to China on national TV, and still maintain her solid 40% base.
Sorry Obamah. You can’t compete with that. The devil in the blue dress will trump an occasional race baiter every time.
Herbert Hoover: "A chicken in every pot."
Barack Obama: "A wad of cash in every freezer."
Yes, you are exactly RIGHT.
‘”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.’
That’s because no one is in New Orleans trying to kill us. Those in New Orleans are only trying to kill each other.
Let the city die a natural death. DNR. Then nobody has to worry about failing NO again.
I am confident I am not the only FReeper that appreciates your post.
I haven’t seen the footage of Obama’s speech. Did he use his “black” dialect?
The U.S. didn’t fail New Orleans....
The “citizens” of New Orleans failed themselves - by consistently electing incompetent and corrupt DEMOCRATS from the city to the state level..
New Orleans was under DEMOCRAT leadership for DECADES — which included the mismanagement of every FEDERAL/STATE dollar to reach the city....
I’m plumb out of compassion for the folks of New Orleans...
Folks who continue to make the wrong decisions, and lead the wrong sort of life which relies upon others for their welfare - aren’t worthy of ENDLESS compassion..
The reelection of Jefferson, after his undeniable corruption - was the straw that broke the camel’s back...
There are other folks along the Gulf who were badly impacted by the SAME storm who are more deserving of compassion and HELP... Mississippi, Alabama and Florida come to mind...
Bless her heart.
5.56mm
Hey Barry, Mrs. Hornet19 and I sent a thousand dollars to the New Orleans relief right after Katrina. Kinda sorry now seeing how the money was mis-used. I don’t want any more of my cash (taxes) sent to a failed community that doesn’t know how to rebuild...let alone try to rebuild below sea-level.
I feel sympathy for the people of New Orleans but the rest of the country doesn’t owe them a thing. The difference between Mississippi rebuilding and New Orleans is night and day.
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