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CORRECTED-Bush makes third trip to hurricane-hit region

Posted on: Sunday, 11 September 2005, 18:58 CDT

In NEW ORLEANS story headlined "Bush makes third trip to hurricane-hit region" please read in third paragraph, "Bush was greeted at the airport by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and then they took a helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima," instead of "Bush was greeted at the airport by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who is heading relief operations, and Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, the military commander in New Orleans."

A corrected story follows.

NEW ORLEANS, Sept 11 - President George W. Bush arrived in New Orleans on Sunday for a two-day visit to the Gulf Coast region during which he will for the first time tour the interior of the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

It was the third trip to the area for Bush since the hurricane struck two weeks ago, and coincided with the fourth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attack, the other major disaster on U.S. soil that his administration has been forced to deal with.

Bush was greeted at the airport by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and then they took a helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima, where they met Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who is heading relief operations, and Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, the military commander in New Orleans.

On Monday, Bush will receive a Katrina briefing on board the Iwo Jima, after which he was scheduled to tour New Orleans in military vehicles. He will then take an aerial tour of one of the parishes and meet with parish officials. Bush will end his visit with two stops in Gulfport, Mississippi, before returning to Washington.

The trip gives Bush the opportunity to "continue to assess the situation on the ground and visit with those who are overseeing operations on the ground to hear from them" about immediate needs and future recovery and rebuilding efforts, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Bush, whose approval ratings hit an all-time low in recent public opinion polls, has faced harsh criticism that his administration was too slow in responding to the crisis in which hundreds of thousands of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama residents were displaced by Katrina.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, said on CBS's "Face the Nation" program that the Bush administration was trying to shift blame to local officials.

"While the president is saying that he wants to work together as a team, I think the White House operatives have a full-court press on to blame state, local officials, whether Republican or Democratic," she said.

McClellan rejected that accusation and said the administration was working with state and local officials to deal with the disaster.

"We are trying to work together with state and local officials to make sure that we respond together as we develop plans for the recovery and rebuilding effort," he said on Air Force One en route to New Orleans.

INCOMPETENCE 'COLORBLIND'

Michael Brown, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who was sharply criticized for the federal government's response, was sent back to Washington and Allen put in charge of the relief effort on the ground.

"I think that the entire country felt shame about what had happened," Sen. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat, said on ABC's "This Week" program.

But regarding criticism that the administration had been uncaring about a population that was largely black and poor, Obama said that he believed the incompetence was "colorblind" and rather officials were detached from the realities of inner-city life.

"I would like to see him (Bush) reach out to a broader circle of leadership in the African-American community and indicate that what he saw woke him up," Obama said.

McClellan said the president met last week with faith-based and community leaders including blacks and that the administration was making an effort to expand contacts in that community.

Recent public opinion polls show Bush's approval ratings sinking to new lows. A Newsweek magazine survey found that 38 percent of Americans approved of Bush's performance, and a Time magazine poll showed 42 percent were satisfied with the job Bush was doing.

The president's ratings had been slipping before the hurricane hit due to increased uneasiness over the Iraq war.

Source: REUTERS

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