Good for her. I hope Hillary continues to say this and other Democratic candidates as well. Gulf Coast recovery should be a major campaign issue. From the Times Picayune…
Calling the still-ravaged condition of post-Katrina New Orleans “a
natural disaster that has become a national embarrassment and an
international disgrace,” Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday
delivered a scorching critique of the federal government’s response to
the storm and outlined a 10-point recovery program she promised to
enact if voters send her to the White House next year.“Unfortunately, the federal government did not do its job,” the New
York Democrat said at Dillard University’s commencement. “It did not
uphold its end of the bargain. … Rebuilding this city is not just an
obligation of New Orleans or Louisiana. It is an American obligation.”In
a speech that drew frequent applause and shouts of “Yes!” and “That’s
right,” the presidential candidate assailed delays that have hobbled
the recovery effort.“If talk, bureaucracy and promises were enough, we would have
rebuilt New Orleans three times over,” she said. “How do we stop
talking the talk, and how do we start walking the walk?”SNIP
Clinton said the program she envisions would cut red tape, attract
workers to the area to help it rebuild, erect a reliable
hurricane-protection system, provide affordable housing, fight crime,
revitalize the city’s school and health-care systems, promote
ecologically friendly development and revise federal disaster response
procedures to be ready for the next storm.Clinton discussed this program, which she has described as “a mini-Marshall Plan,” frequently during two days in New Orleans.
SNIP
Throughout her time in New Orleans, Clinton was adamant about the need
to restore the city, saying, “The people who ask, ‘Why rebuild New
Orleans?’ are offensive, insensitive and ignorant.SNIP
“If New York had been flooded and the president had treated it the same
way as he has Louisiana, we would have dogged him everywhere, holding
signs and talking to the press,” she said.