The Stimulus Package
Four Years Later
Does it add to the recovery in New Orleans?
After four years, the stimulus package earmarked for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans got national and international attention when President Barak Obama made his initial trip to the Big Easy as president since the disaster. The much anticipated visit was only four hours, but it was a sign for two reasons:
President Obama greets students at the Dr. King Charter School in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward on his whirlwind visit to the city, which is still struggling four years after Hurricane Katrina. (Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)
In route to one of the president’s stops, Dr. King Charter School in the Lower Ninth Ward, a man carried a most profound sign, visible to President Obama from his bus . Four Years Later, it read, amidst a backdrop of dilapidated houses.
The other sign was not carried, but possibly portrayed another message, just as in the photograph above.
Less than a year after taking charge of the Oval Office, pupils who were probably only toddlers when the disaster struck, lent credence to the old cliché, From the Eyes of a Child.
On that day, a student from the Lower Ninth Ward, could gaze into the United Sates President’s eyes, because the man of the hour seemed to lift the child’s head up as a sign; thus causing the student to look directly and into the president’s eyes. At no other time in U.S. History, would it have been possible for any child in America to meet with a president who does not look like all former presidents.
Meanwhile, the adults of New Orleans focused more on the Stimulus Package and the promises made before its dispersal.
The following day of the president’s visit to the Big Easy, the New York Times released an article: Obama in New Orleans: The callous face of the US ruling elite.
It continued “In a brief, four-hour stopover in New Orleans en route to a fund-raising dinner with millionaire Democrats in California, President Barack Obama made perfunctory promises to the people of the devastated city, barely disguising his indifference to their plight.”
As a phychological boosts to the nation, it further stated “ The visit, coming one day after the stock market soared above 10,000 and the Wall Street Journal estimated that compensation at major banks and financial firms would hit a record $140 billion this year, underscored the chasm that separates rich and poor in Obama’s America.”
The quote was not really tied into New Orleans, and some consider it a cheap shot at the president.
In an article released on October 16, 2009, the Engineering News Record entitled it, President Renews Pledge To New Orleans’ Recovery10/16/2009.
“New Orleans, we won’t forget you,” President Barack Obama said.
“The President and his cabinet will continue to assist the recovery and future protection of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region, both of which he says are critical to the nation’s environmental and economic vitality. He made his pledge while acknowledging the administration has other formidable challenges in reviving the economy and overhauling health care.”
Photo: Angelle Bergeron
President Obama reassured the Gulf Coast and New Orleans of his support, and most of the audience cheered him.
“I promise you, we will not forget about New Orleans,” Obama said at a town hall meeting on the campus of the University of New Orleans.
How many resources the administration will devote to the Gulf Coast remains unclear.
On August 26, the administration announced the formation of a federal interagency task force to oversee the ongoing economic and environmental restoration work in the Gulf Coast. Yet more than a month after the announcement, the president offered no specific agenda of the task force. Nor did he announce any new legislation or funding supporting coastal restoration or recovery efforts.
For the most part, the town hall audience cheered Obama.
“Katrina was caused not just by a disaster of nature, but a breakdown of government,” Obama said. To ensure that breakdown won’t happen again, the Obama administration has sent more cabinet members to the Gulf Coast than any other area in the country, he says. “We’re also focusing on preparedness and response so history doesn’t repeat itself, so a disaster like this doesn’t happen again. We’ve formed a group led by Janet Napolitano to improve disaster recovery across the country.”
Obama compared Hurricane Katrina to the economic storms currently assailing the nation. He compared the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which “has put thousands of Gulf Coast residents back to work,” to the ongoing recovery in New Orleans. “We’ve seen 220 miles of levees repaired, but it’s not enough,” he said. Referring to the nation’s economic health, Obama says he wants to see “not only stock market prices rising again, but businesses hiring again. If we want a recovery that lasts, and an economy that grows again, we need to build stronger.”
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