Katrina Victims: Justice is Coming

As he campaigned for President, then Senator Obama, in a New Orleans speech on February 2, 2007, said: “When I am President, I promise you I will commit myself every day to keeping up Washington’s end of this trust. This will be a priority of my presidency. And I will make it clear to members of my Administration that their responsibilities don’t end in places like the 9th ward – they begin there.”

Later in August of that year, the presidential candidate got even more specific: "We've got to get the levies and pumping stations working, but we also have to rebuild wetlands and marshes around the coast," Obama said. "We've got to rebuild our infrastructure.”

After their nomination, the Obama Biden campaign, pledging to keep the Bush Administration’s broken promises, issued a detailed plan for “Rebuilding the Gulf Coast and Preventing Future Catastrophes.”  http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/additional/Obama_FactSheet_Katrina.pdf 

Following Obama’s inauguration, the new White House website chastised President Bush and repeated the new president’s campaign commitments.   http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/additional/

So, how does reality stack up against rhetoric?

Not very well.  Despite all the promises and criticisms of his predecessor, President Obama has not delivered—at least not to the extent that he committed before he was elected.  To be sure, many of his cabinet secretaries have visited New Orleans, and several long overdue initiatives involving FEMA and HUD have been undertaken.  But so much remains to be done as the victims await their just compensation and scarred neighborhoods still resemble Third World countries.

A typical street in the Lower 9th Ward today.

A fair appraisal of the new administration’s performance was offered by Huffington Post columnist Harry Shearer back in April:

"[T]here was not one dollar in the stimulus package, not one out of 700-billion-plus, to help the rebuilding of the tattered levee-floodwall system (despite the Corps of Engineers' statement, a few weeks ago, that, supposedly because of money shortfall, they would choose the "technically not superior" solution to the repair of one poorly-built floodwall; not one dollar out of 700-billion-plus to accelerate the restoration of the coastal wetlands that buffer New Orleans from stronger hurricanes, despite the fact that human activity, including Corps of Engineers-built canals and oil company pipelines, have caused most of the destruction of the wetlands. Not shovel ready? The only thing readier for a shovel is the hope that the new administration might really bring the nation's attention to the federal government's responsibility for the disaster, not just for the lackluster response, and might step up to its responsibility to do the job right this time."

The only way to keep so many solemn pledges to reclaim a region destroyed by its own government’s gross incompetence is to “show us the money.”  Good intentions do not pave roads, rebuild schools and hospitals, restore wetlands, or compensate people and businesses for the loss of their homes and livelihood.  President Obama’s heart may be in the right place, and his plate may be overflowing with other priorities, but Greater New Orleans needs and deserves his leadership, focused attention and billions of dollars in funding.

Shortly before Katrina’s 4th Anniversary, Senator Mary Landrieu, who has worked tirelessly for economic justice for her constituents, wrote to the President about the needs of the nation’s 35th largest city.  The letter is a partial list of the continuing priorities that must be immediately addressed—the promises that must be kept.  http://landrieu.senate.gov/media/POTUS_Letter.pdf