President Barack Obama, who accused former President George W. Bush of leading a government “that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns,” is hearing directly from New Orleans residents who have struggled to rebuild their city since the 2005 hurricane season. Obama arrives in New Orleans today on his first presidential trip to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. About 1,600 people were killed in Louisiana and Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina, which caused $40 billion in damages and displaced 1 million people from their homes. The storm was a natural disaster that turned into a political one for Bush. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was widely criticized for a slow response. And local officials have complained that the Bush administration often stubbornly refused to pay for work that should have qualified for federal aid. When Obama became president, FEMA said there were more than 120 Louisiana reconstruction projects stalled in federal-state disputes. Since January, 76 of those have been resolved. But there’s still much to do.
Meanwhile, Louisiana Public Broadcasting will air live coverage of President Obama’s town-hall meeting at the University of New Orleans starting at 1:15 p.m. on LPB2. The broadcast will repeat at 10 p.m. today on LPB1.
