Bush Says "Hope Coming Back" To Big Easy

President Acknowledges More Work Must Be Done; Critics Say Pledges Of Aid Are Unfulfilled

(CBS/ AP)  President Bush said Wednesday that "hope is coming back" to New Orleans with the help of $126 billion in disaster aid poured into the Gulf Coast region over three years after Hurricane Katrina.

Bush tempered his upbeat remarks by acknowledging much more work must be done.

He spoke before a friendly audience at Jackson Barracks, a historic Louisiana National Guard post badly damaged by Katrina. The crowd gave a standing ovation when Bush said he recently agreed to a request by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal and other state leaders to give Louisiana 30 years to repay $1.8 billion for levee improvements in the New Orleans area. The money initially was to be repaid by 2011.

State officials said they needed 30 years to avoid hurting a still-recovering economy.

Bush seemed in no hurry to get through his prepared remarks, spending the first few minutes acknowledging Jindal, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and other notables. The bad blood between city officials and the White House after the Bush administration's bungled response to the Katrina disaster was set aside, at least for the moment.

"The mayor and I have had some quality time," Bush said of his difficult history with Nagin.

"The good future is here," Bush said. "I predicted New Orleans would come back as a stronger and better city. We helped deliver $126 billion in taxpayer money."

"Who would have thought three years after the storm the president could come and say, `New Orleans, La., is on its way back as a stronger and better city."' Bush said.

"I think the message here today is hope is being restored. Hope is coming back."

New Orleans resident Kaaren Grimes says she's willing to give President Bush the benefit of the doubt, but says the federal money he promised was not enough to keep people like her from going into debt after the storm, reports CBS affiliate WWL-TV in New Orleans .

“I'm thinking he's done the best that he could, but we have to deal with all the different layers that come down under him through the feds, the state, the local level,” Grimes said.

Nagin talked about the promises President Bush made in Jackson Square in the dark days after Katrina.

“We will do what it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives,” Bush said that night in 2005 from Jackson Square.

“The promise is still unfulfilled as far as I’m concerned,” Nagin said.

Nagin says so far the city has received less than a third of the money promised to help rebuild public buildings and infrastructure, reports WWL-TV.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said in an interview with The Associated Press this week that the New Orleans recovery was far from complete and that key projects won't be finished without more federal money.

Following Bush's speech at Jackson Barracks, Landrieu released a statement saying too much of the money has been lost to red tape and government inefficiency.

"Let no one suffer the illusion that $126 billion has gone straight to where it is needed and where it belongs," Landrieu said.

Bush traveled to New Orleans and later to nearby Gulfport, Miss., after appearing at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Orlando, Fla.

In Gulfport, Bush had dinner at a downtown restaurant with business owners and local and state leaders, including Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

"Are there still people wondering about their future? Absolutely," Bush told reporters afterward. "But things are better here on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi."

Bush returned to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Wednesday evening.

[c0mm0n_sense]

The youngest of Barack Obama%u2019s half siblings has told of his shame about living in a shack and existing on a dollar a month whilst his brother plans to become the most powerful man in the world.

With the Democratic Convention in Denver just days away, Italian Vanity Fair magazine tracked George Hussein Onyango Obama to a 6ft by 9ft wooden shed in Kenya.

The difference in the men''s lifestyles could not be more dramatic. Mr Obama, 47, travels the world with an army of bodyguards, whilst his brother defends himself with his own bare hands on the rough streets of Haruma, a Nairobi shanty town.

%u201CIf anyone says something about my surname, I say we are not related. I am ashamed,%u201D George told the magazine.

"No-one knows who I am. I live here on less than a dollar a month.

"I live like a recluse, no-one knows I exist."

George, at 25 the youngest of Obama%u2019s father%u2019s seven children, has met his famous big brother just twice.

He was just five when Mr Obama visited Kenya for the first time in 1988 and made a special trip out to his mother Jael%u2019s shanty home.

[downsteamjim]

''Hope is coming back to New Orleans'' Hope is the name of one of the prostitutes that fled after the storm. Every day people like her along with vicious thugs return to torture this poor city.

[toldyouso12]

lET''S SEE NOW... The anthrax case is supposedly solved (but the killer died before he could be charged)

The 911 building case has supposedly been solved--by gov inspectors hired by the White house

Iraq all of a sudden is near to a deal for Bush and Condi

Now the Big Easy mess is on the mend--all in time for the election.

The surge is working, except the Shia are attacking the Sunnis we paid not to fight us and those pesky suicides are ticking back up

Bush is doing all he can for ya, McCain trying to put a rosy face on all of his clusterfvcks--too bad its all lies, smoke and mirrors and most are not buying the hype.

[lambor59]

Bush even used photos of dead people from Katrina to propaganda against the China, with the help of CNN, they put a short footage of a dead man floating in water and said this guy died because of the Chinese oppression, but we saw this photos in earlier report Katrina from CNN, he died in New Olearn flood.

[lambor59]

Who will belive in this thug Bush?

[rickstas]

The only reason that "hope is coming back" to New Orleans is because Shrub will soon be gone.

[gopack443]

Well as long as someone trustworthy like W said it...

[babooph]

Like anyone with a brain in their head,they''re hoping for January.

[johnstossel]

New Orleans is coming back but no thanks to Georgie boy. He didn''t know how to cope with this because he didn''t plan it like he did 9/11. Politicians!!!

[tulcak]

gunfighter51, you are an absolute moron. that''s got to be the STUPIDEST thing I''ve ever heard. You talk about 5 days before the hurricane hit... what the F**K was your man bush doing for 5 days? clearing brush at his ranch, reading to school kids? playing golf? just where the heell was he? he, and the GOP have been absent. this "hands off" type government doesn''t work. its stupid, you are stupid and the GOP is f**ki*ng stupid.