OBAMA VISITS FLOODRAVAGED LOUISIANA,
ZACHARY, La. — A defensive President Obama — taking heat for refusing to leave his vacation to visit flood-ravaged Louisiana — showed up yesterday promising a sustained national effort to rebuild “even after the TV cameras leave.”
“This is not a one-off, this is not a photo-op issue. I need all Americans to stay focused on this,” Obama said. “I know how resilient the people of Louisiana are and I know that you will rebuild again.”
GOP candidate Donald Trump, who was in Louisiana handing out relief supplies last week, tweeted yesterday, “President Obama should have gone to Louisiana days ago, instead of golfing. Too little, too late!”
Eleven years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, Obama’s visit was a reminder of the political dangers and opportunities natural disasters pose for politicians.
Trump was warmly received in Baton Rouge on Friday, and his Obama gibe yesterday was repeated by beleaguered Louisianans.
“Too little too late,” Mona Gaspard said of Obama’s visit. The resident of Ascension Parish said she saw her home filled with 4 feet of water and resented what she saw from Obama. “I saw him play golf, not helping out over here. Trump was over here, but he wasn’t,” she said.
But some welcomed Obama and the spotlight he brought.
“It means a lot to know you have that support from the highest level,” said Chrisena Brown, as the president surveyed the piles of discarded mattresses, broken appliances and heaps of clothing that line the curbs of her street. The college administrator says she’s staying with family while she cleans up, working late into the night in stifling humidity.
Going door to door and trailed by cameras, Obama offered sympathy to residents as they took a break from the cleanup.
“I wish I was coming at a better time,” he told one resident, as he put his arm around her and walked into her home for a brief tour. “But I’m glad to see everybody is safe, at least.”
As a candidate in 2008, Obama was a sharp critic of President George W. Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina. And in 2012, the year of his re-election effort, he rushed to Louisiana to show solidarity with victims of Hurricane Isaac.
Yesterday, Obama claimed he doesn’t “worry too much about politics” and that he is focused on improving the speed and efficiency of the federal response.