Obama: 'We need to rebuild this city'

Posted: Monday, August 27, 2007 2:25 PM by Mark Murray

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
Ahead of the rest of the presidential candidates, Obama visited New Orleans yesterday to commemorate the upcoming second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. While addressing the First Emanuel Baptist Church, he focused more on a religious message and -- for the most part -- left politics off the pulpit.

Promising to remember the past but to concentrate on looking ahead to fixing the future, Obama pledged to fix an "empathy deficit" created by America's culture that promotes responsibility to selves rather than to others. He also promised to rebuild a "bond of trust that was broken" so that people can depend on one another again. "Let New Orleans be a place for those who lived in the shadows can step out into the light," the senator said. "And let it be then, as Jesus said, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hit. And in 10 years, in 100 years, let people come here and say this is where the renewal began. Let this place be where it was said that the people came together to build that foundation and a deep darkness was replaced with a light of hope."

The congregation received Obama well, giving him numerous applauses, standing ovations, and "Amens." In fact, the pastor introduced him as the "our candidate for president of the United States of America" -- to rousing applause.

But Obama recognized he will not be alone in visiting New Orleans this week -- and courting support while there. Clinton, Edwards, Huckabee, and Hunter will be speaking today at Sen. Mary Landrieu's Katrina Recovery Presidential Forum in New Orleans.

Obama urged others who come to the area to look deeper than the "city's storm battered surface" and examine the foundation. Using a metaphor from one of Jesus' teachings, Obama said New Orleans needs to be rebuilt "founded on the rock" of the principle "I am my brother's keeper," arguing the government has not lived up to that principle. "When the winds blew and the floods came, we learned that for all our wealth and power, something wasn't right in America," he said. "Our foundation wasn't built on the rock."

Obama did bring some politics inside the church, however, telling the congregation that America has failed New Orleans twice already. "America failed the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast long before that failure showed up on our television sets. America failed them again during Katrina," he said. "We cannot, we must not, fail for a third time. But, tragically, that's what's happening today. And that's what needs to change. I am here to remember this, but also to look ahead. We need to rebuild this city. And we need to tend to the foundation that we rebuild upon."

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Comments

"Saint James Infirmary Blues"-Louis Armstrong

Still Crazy After All These Years (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 2:42 PM)

I have really mixed feelings about this. I spent the first 21 years of my life only 90 minutes from NO. I have deep feelings for that area.

However, it was built on sinking dirt. A relative of mine who lived there for many years would have to bring in truckloads of soil every year to rebuild his very small suburban yard.

Sooner or later, we have to ask ourselves why would we want to build there?

Even if the answer is to rebuild, those levees and walls have to be rebuilt first.

This may call for some really tough decisions. Vocal decisions - not just ignoring the situation as Mr. Bush has done.

Independent, Texas (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 2:43 PM)

Did Obama use a Southern accent when he was speaking? You know, like Hillary changes her accent when she gets in front of different types of crowds.

Minnie White, Baton Rouge (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 2:47 PM)

Obama, who has done ZIP in his years in the illinios congress promises to fix things in america..

yeah, sure.... and bush actually did his duty in the TANG.
both are selling snake oil

Richard,Keene,Nebraska (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 2:48 PM)

As a firm supporter of Barack Obama, I am as deeply disturbed by a Baptist church calling Obama "our candidate" as I would be by a Southern Baptist church calling Fred Thompson " our candidate"

Can't the churches in American just stick to religion and get their noses out of everyone's politics?

Any church calling a political candidate "our candidate" should have it's tax-exempt status cancelled immediately.

Separation of Church and State people!

Jim, Atlanta (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 2:53 PM)

scott (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:02 PM)

Mr. Chertoff, re-build this city
- paraphrasing Ronald Reagan.

Independent, I spent the first 19 years of my life 90 minutes from NO. Small world.

nuanced (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:02 PM)

Richard before you say he did "zip" why don't you actually look up his record?
And Minnie, Obama doesn't need to change who he is depending on who he is speaking to like HRC

Jennie Denver,CO (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:05 PM)

When Texas was getting ready for Hurricane Dean, New Orleans should have sent their ding dong mayor over to teach him about how to prepare for a hurricane. Kinda funny and sad at the same time that President Bush was blamed for all the failures of Katrina when the democrat controlled city and state did nothing and to this day still have done nothing to keep the city safe. That story in Time magazine should be a wake up call for everyone in new Orleans, it should never be rebuilt if the local, state and federal governments are not serious about tackling the issues. $12 million bucks for some kind of navigational boon doggle that nobody uses, money that could have been used to make the flood walls stronger. New Orleans gets everything it has coming to her because nobody will get serious about the city. Kinda like liberals pouring money down the drain with nothing in return.

jerry/corpus christi texas (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:07 PM)

Does Senator Obama know that thousands of Illinois citizens have been without power since last Thursday? Or that water is still waist deep in several areas in Illinois. I have seen our other Senator (Dick Durbin) out to assess and speak of the flooding but it appears that our other senator, Mr. Obama is MIA. Guess flood ravaged Illinois isn’t as important to him as the politically fertile grounds of New Orleans and New Hampshire.

If he didn’t want to serve and devote more than 2 years to Illinois, maybe he should not have run for Senator?

csh, chicago (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:08 PM)

Rich from Nebraska, What do you know about Obama in the Illinois Senate?

I would hardly consider you the authority on the Illinois Senate, since you are from Nebraska and all......

Windy City Girl, Chicago Il (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:10 PM)

Independent: Bush didnt ignore NO. It has been ignored by the State govt for years. I lived in Slidell for 8 yrs and I can tell you that NO was hanging by a thread long before Bush. It was said while Bush probably was in elementary school that this would happen one day to NO. That place was built basically in the water/swamp.

IntheMiddle, Texas (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:13 PM)

Well said, Independent. Rebuilding new orleans in situ means dumping more money into rebuilding in a swamp that's below sea level, a place that will never be able to be made stable enough to live in permanently without constant maintenance.

Saying "we're going to rebuild this city" doesn't deal with this reality. Neither does it address why the Federal government should dump however-many billions into that task when it's only going to happen again and again.

Rebuilding cities is not a Federal obligation. rebuilding them where they shouldn't have been put in the first place is not only not a Federal obligation, it makes no sense.

My position (for what it's worth): no more Federal money to New Orleans to rebuild in the areas that were flooded out. Treat the area like Times Beach, MO--buy it up, relocate whoever still lives there, and let the river and lake reclaim what was once theirs (and will be again at some point, regardless of what we humans do).

Ricchard Fifield, Easton, PA (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:20 PM)

How is it that a church can choose political sides? I think that is a violation of tax exempt status.

IntheMiddle, Texas (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:23 PM)

Just like in NYC what is keeping rebuilding from going forward is governmental and environmental red tape, not that the Rep or Bush hates the people or the area.

NO is going to have face facts that insurance companies are going to make it impossible to rebuild in many areas that are below sea level and they should have not been built on in the first place.

The facts that NO was a unique city with a failing school system and corrupt local police force and a city council that was disfuctional.

No will be a great locale in about 10 years as it will take that amount of time to repair, replace and rebuild. The best part is if the city fathers are smart they will build for the future not the past and make NO the place for 2020 and beyond. The opportunity to modernize every aspect of the city from power to water to sewer to transportation to schools to everything. This city has a chance to be a new historic city.

Obamas preaching on Sunday is not really, helpful it solves nothing. The next President needs to suspend all that red tape review and start building.

Alan in Phx (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:26 PM)

sorry folks but new orleans was and still is a bad idea, let the sea reclaim it, use the money that was to be wasted rebuilding to relocate the people

MK,MO (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:40 PM)

IntheMiddle, Texas (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:13 PM)

I agree with the whole Louisiana government tirade. It has long been a joke, albeit a sad one.

When I mean that Bush ignored the Katrina situation, I mean that literally. Even though others had responsiblities, he didn't do a thing. He didn't even visit - just flew over the area. Keep in mind, Katrina's damage wasn't restricted to New Orleans.

Independent, Texas (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:47 PM)

hey richard, how do you know that obama didn't do anything in the illinois senate? are you from IL? I am, and I can tell you, he did quite a bit. Best of which was leadership with was ending years of political cronyism in our state. maybe you should do some research before you spew misinformation

Oh, now this is humor. Obama ended years of crony-ism in the state of Illinois? You have got to be kidding. Must have missed that somewhere along the line. Illinois may be the most corrupt state government in the country. Louisiana politics looks good compared to Illinois.

Obama is a product of hard core, in the dirt, smoky back room, mob controlled, Illinois politics. The last governor here is ready to go to prison, the current governor is being investigated by the feds and will probably soon follow. The state legislators in both the House and the Senate are cleaning out the state pension fund for their pet projects and killing the state workers retirement benefits. There is a bus service from Chicago city hall to the prison, just to make it convenient for the Chicago alderman.

Obama was not a reformer. He was/is a go-along to get-along stooge of the Democratic party.

Richard Branson, Chicago Illinois (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:48 PM)

Independant: How is giving 122 billion for reconstruction efforts ,the largest amount in American history for a natural disaster,''ignoring'' the problem? Bear in mind that Bush has signed all such funding bills to cross his desk.

Lee Holmes (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 3:54 PM)

While we're at it how about we rebuilt Atlantis.
The city sat 12-20 feet below sea level. It is gone, give it up.
Obama has a record of doing something as the junior senator from Ill????
I must have missed it in his bio.
I am not a bigot, but the truth is this. If Obama were white his campaign would have been over three months ago.

Rick, Germany. (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 4:05 PM)

Does Senator Obama know that thousands of Illinois citizens have been without power since last Thursday? Or that water is still waist deep in several areas in Illinois. I have seen our other Senator (Dick Durbin) out to assess and speak of the flooding but it appears that our other senator, Mr. Obama is MIA.

Senator Durbin also took his turn in the big "Hampster Wheel of Power" where he ran for ten minutes to produce 8 kilowatts of power that was used to power a senior center. They baked cookies.

Croke Nettles, Evanston IL (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 4:09 PM)

President Bush wants the troops to STAY A LITTLE LONGER in Iraq, but it seems that the top officials in his administration don't want to STAY until the end of his term; at least that's the way it seems with the exodus of people heading out the doors at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Robert Randle, Tacoma, WA (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 4:16 PM)

IntheMiddle, Texas: Bush didnt ignore NO.

I don't know about that. $150 Billion just doesn't go as far as it used to

msd (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 4:29 PM)

Mr. Obama is an idealist who will say and do anything depending where he is at in the country to get elected. While it sounds good in everyone's ears, politically he has no way of doing any of these initiatives if he becomes president. Mr. Obama should focus on things he can get done and not the things he promises and cannot fulfill!!!

mk, pennsylvania (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 4:58 PM)

Jerry, lets see how much s**t you are talking when the next hurricane floods Corpus Christi. I would think living on the Gulf Coast you would have some sympathy for those folks regardless of the political affiliation of their leaders.

Doug, San Diego (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 5:01 PM)

Doug...to give you a little History lesson about the difference between Corpus Christi and New Orleans...

On August 3rd, 1970, Hurricane Celia hit the city was over 165 mile and hour winds (category 5). The city was pretty much torn to pieces. You know why Corpus never saw the tidal surge that Katrina brought to New Orleans???? Because unlike the democrats who pretty much left their city to roll over and die, we took a different approach, we have miles and miles of sand dunes, some of them 30 ft high and more. Every year, old discarded Christmas trees and dragged out to the beach and put in front of the sand dunes and soon they are covered with sand. The dunes pretty much guarantee we will never see the damage that new Orleans saw. Wind damage, that's another story, but we have some of the strongest rules on paper as far as building houses and buildings in the nation. We are not Louisiana, we are texas, we take care of our own! In fact, we were more then prepared to handle an evacuation during Hurricane Dean and Hurricane Rita then New Orleans ever was and ever will be. Tell Ray nagin to quite flapping his gums and come over and take a look how a REAL city like Corpus Christi takes care of it's business. I've got good money bet that you will not hear of nursing homes leaving people to die or school buses soaking in the Mississippi river like New Orleans did.

jerry/corpus christi texas (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 5:35 PM)

mk, pennsylvania -- go look up idealist in the dictionary. What you just described is a pragmatist.

nuanced (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 5:40 PM)

Seems to be a lot of empathy deficiency.

nuanced (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 5:41 PM)

Rick (I'm not a bigot, but ...), Germany -- You do know that the "blacks get special treatment" lament is far from accurate and is often used by bigots.

nuanced (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 5:46 PM)

I'd like to hear from certain people whether they think all of these cities and farmlands should have been abandoned. If you believe in your ideology you need to consistently apply it.

-------- From Wikipedia --------
The Great Flood of 1993 occurred in the American Midwest, along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries, from April to October of 1993. The flood was among the most costly and devastating to ever occur in the United States, with $15 billion in damages and an inundated area around 745 miles (1200 km) in length and 435 miles (700 km) in width, making a total flood area of about 320,000 square miles (840,000 km²). It was the worst such U.S. disaster since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, as measured by duration, square miles inundated, persons displaced, crop and property damage, and number of record river levels. In some categories, the 1993 flood even surpassed the 1927 flood, at the time the largest flood ever recorded on the Mississippi.

Some locations on the Mississippi River flooded for almost 200 days while locations on the Missouri neared 100 days of flooding. On the Mississippi, Grafton, Illinois, recorded flooding for 195 days, Clarksville, Missouri, for 187 days, Winfield, Missouri, for 183 days, Hannibal, Missouri, for 174 days, and Quincy, Illinois, for 152 days. The Missouri River was above flood stage for 62 days in Jefferson City, Missouri, 77 days at Hermann, Missouri; and for 94 days at St. Charles in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

nuanced (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 6:01 PM)

mk, pennsylvania says Obama will say anything people want to hear to get elected:
Obama has a history of doing the opposite. He almost never throws red meat to an audience that wants it and instead prefers to lead by telling detroit automakers that they need to make more fuel efficient vehicles, and telling fellow African-Americans that fatherhood doesn't end at conception. The list is too long to waste my time further proving "mk, pennsylvania"'s ignorance.

Mark Morris (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 6:38 PM)

I have the same concerns as you, Independent, in your first post. Why are we rebuilding the city? At least, why are we rebuilding it there? If I had a home and the means to rebuild as I pleased, I'd sure look at being north of the lake. Another major hurricane is going to hit there again, one of these years, and maybe in our lifetime (maybe next month).

And as you said, the land is sinking, and each year its vulnerability increases.

Its the same thing with towns built in the Mississippi flood plain.

Paul Miller, Woodbridge, VA (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 8:28 PM)

Independant // How is giving 122 billion for reconstruction efforts ,the largest amount in American history for a natural disaster,''ignoring'' the problem? Bear in mind that Bush has signed all such funding bills to cross his desk. //

Lee, the loons around here wouldn't be happy if Bush sent a trillion dollars to NOs, was there swinging a hammer to rebuild every house and building, and personally smooching every residents butt while saying how sorry he was for failing them.

The leftists as just enraged with hate for this man. Not a good quality.

Ellis Daniels (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 10:41 PM)

rick, have you been looking at tv . where do you get this from . and yes your a bigot

ki houston (Sent Tuesday, August 28, 2007 8:47 AM)

IntheMiddle, Texas--You are correct about churches tax exempt status but that also means conservative evangelical fundamentalist churches as well. You know, the ones that issued talking points from their pulpits and ran buses to the polls to make sure that God's candidate got elected and then re-elected?

Gary Schear, Bozeman Montana (Sent Tuesday, August 28, 2007 9:10 AM)

More than half of New Orleans sits above sea level, according to recent geographical surveys. But keep spouting ignorance here. It's entertaining in a dark way.

A few things: Sea level is not the deciding factor in flooding anyway, as people in the Holy Cross neighborhood here could tell you (the NOLA suburbs mentioned earlier by someone did not flood from flood wall breaks, for the most part, despite sitting below sea level). The same could be said by people who live in valley areas of the Smokey Mountains who experienced flooding after Ivan. And of course Texas proved how ready it is in the panicked and disorganized Houston evac during Rita.

Joe Michael (Sent Tuesday, August 28, 2007 11:32 AM)

Nuanced - I lived in Iowa City during the '93 floods, and it was terrible. I lived in a very affected area, but luckily our home was at the top of the hill; my neighbors at the bottom of the hill used their boats to get from room to room in their houses. Roads were closed for months, entire neighborhoods were inaccessible for just as long. And Iowa City was not the hardest hit area - not by a long shot.

Carrie, Eastern Iowa (Sent Tuesday, August 28, 2007 3:53 PM)

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