NYT : Bush Cites Progress in Gulf Coast Visit

Bush Cites Progress in Gulf Coast Visit

by ANNE E. KORNBLUT and DAVID STOUT | August 28, 2006

BILOXI, Miss., Aug. 28 — On the eve of the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush returned to the devastated Gulf Coast today promising to continue federal assistance, and eagerly pointing out signs of progress.

Speaking in a working-class neighborhood in Biloxi, Miss., President Bush attempted to recast the legacy of the year before.

“It’s amazing, isn’t?” he told a gathering under a sweltering sun. “It’s amazing what the world looked like then and what it looks like now.”

Mr. Bush, his presidency still marred one year later by the slow government response to the storm, spent the afternoon demonstrating his empathy and optimism in meetings with residents and officials along the storm-wracked coast. The trip marked an attempt by Mr. Bush to recast the legacy of the year before, when he lingered on the other side of the country before cutting short his vacation to deal with the crisis.

Mr. Bush acknowledged that, for some, rebuilding may have been so gradual as to seem non-existent. But, Mr. Bush said: “For a fellow who was here and now a year later comes back, things have changed.”

“I feel a quiet sense of determination that’s going to shape the future of Mississippi,” he continued.

And then, in comments that could have been as applicable to the other main challenge of his administration — Iraq — Mr. Bush said: “As this part of the world flourishes, and businesses grow, people will find work and have the wherewithal to rebuild their lives.”

Mr. Bush delivered his remarks at an intersection in a working-class Biloxi neighborhood against a carefully orchestrated backdrop of neatly reconstructed homes. Just a few feet out of camera range stood gutted houses with wires dangling from interior ceilings. A tattered piece of crime scene tape hung from a tree in the field where Mr. Bush spoke. A toilet seat lay on its side in the grass.

Mr. Bush praised the optimism and grit of the people of Mississippi, and he reaffirmed his belief in neighborly cooperation as well as government help. “A year ago, I committed our federal government to help you,” he said. “I said we have a duty to help the local people recover and rebuild. I meant what I said.”

For truly effective rebuilding, he went on, “there has to be a partnership with the federal government and the state and local governments. Here’s my attitude about the partnership. You know better than the people in Washington the needs of your communities. I’d rather listen to local mayors and county commissioners than folks sitting in Washington, D.C., about what this part of Mississippi wants.”

Acknowledging the shortcomings of the federal government’s response, Mr. Bush said every department in his administration “came up with practical reforms, ways to do things better.”

“The truth of the matter is, we can work together and will, but when disaster strikes, the first people that you rely upon, the people that matter most, are your friends,” Mr. Bush said at another point. “It’s friends helping friends that turns out to make an enormous difference in saving lives and helping to get by the trauma of the first days.”

The White House chief of staff, Joshua B. Bolten, watched the speech from the sidelines, his presence a reminder of the personnel reshuffling that occurred after the former chief of staff, Andrew H. Card, tried unsuccessfully to manage the storm crisis. Mr. Bush was also joined by the two Mississippi senators, Republicans Trent Lott and Thad Cochran; Gov. Haley Barbour; and Don Powell, the Gulf Coast reconstruction chief, whom the president hailed as “my friend from Texas.”

Nearby, along the ocean, ravaged antebellum homes and churches still dotted the waterfront. The beach, stretching from Gulfport to Biloxi, was deserted. Debris hung from craggy trees and motels stood shuttered. Blue tarp still patched the roofs of more dwellings than not. A fence around a home in Biloxi was spray painted in green: “You loot, I shoot.”

At the Biloxi Community Center, which Laura Bush had visited during her shooting of an “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” episode last September following the storm, workers unloaded trays of packaged foods into a dusty space with no air conditioning.

In Washington and around the country, Katrina continued to occupy a prominent place in the political arena. “One year later, neither the tragedy Katrina caused — the flooding of New Orleans and the devastation of the Gulf Coast — nor the tragedy that it exposed — the extent of the federal government’s failure to provide a life of security and dignity to all of our citizens — have been adequately addressed,” Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House leader, said in a statement.

Mr. Bush was heading to New Orleans after his visit to Mississippi, and his reception in that city was likely to be cooler than that in Biloxi. A year later, New Orleans is struggling and much smaller than it was before it was savaged by wind and water. The federal response to the disaster there was widely considered much less effective than it was in Mississippi. And Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana and one of the state’s senators, Mary Landrieu, are Democrats who have not been shy about criticizing the administration.

Anne E. Kornblut reported from Biloxi, Miss., for this article, and David Stout from Washington.