Buckwheat: US Taxpayers Can't Fail New Orleans Again

http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/obama_new_orleans/2007/08/26/27506.html

Obama: U.S. Can't Fail New Orleans Again

Sunday, August 26, 2007

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 in the city's Gentilly Woods section. "It

cannot become another empty promise."

Obama is the first of several presidential candidates 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 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.

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.

The Illinois senator criticized Bush for what he said was a lack of urgency

in rebuilding the city. 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.

"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?'

"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.