Ruin Not ‘Imaginable,’ Results Not ‘Acceptable’

Amid sharp criticism of the slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush toured storm-ravaged regions of the Gulf Coast on Friday, promising swift results.

Four days after the storm devastated vast stretches of the Gulf states, the president spent about six hours viewing the damage by helicopter and on foot in Mobile, Ala.; Biloxi, Miss.; and New Orleans.

“We’re making progress,” Bush said just before he returned to Washington, about two hours past his scheduled departure.

“I’m not going to forget what I’ve seen,” he said. “I understand that devastation requires more than one day’s attention. It’s going to require the attention of this country for a long period of time.”

Before leaving the White House on Friday morning, Bush said the results of the federal effort up to that point were “not acceptable.”

At each stop, Bush exchanged hugs and patted people on the back. More than once, he elicited smiles, even laughter, from the now-homeless. The White House may have hoped such images would cast the president as a consoler and take-charge leader who was fully engaged in the rescue and recovery.

Although touring storm-damaged areas “may not draw down the water a foot, or an inch, he at least conveys a sense that he’s doing something, at work,” said Stuart Rothenberg, an independent political analyst.

Bush’s first stop was Mobile. In a Coast Guard hangar there, military officers, rescue personnel and the governors of Alabama and Mississippi gave him accounts of the hurricane and its aftermath, using maps spread over a large table.

“We are going to restore order in the city of New Orleans,” Bush said. “The people of this country expect there to be law and order, and we’re going to work hard to get it.”

After the rescue operations are complete and order is restored, Bush said, “then we’re going to help these communities rebuild.”

In Biloxi, Bush’s motorcade slowly made its way through an obliterated city, forced at several points to zigzag down narrow streets to avoid debris.

During a walking tour, the president was approached by two sisters, one of whom wept as she spoke of having lost everything but the clothes she wore. Bush hugged them and then slung an arm around each as they walked down the road together, chatting.

After greeting more people at a Salvation Army trailer, the president told the traveling media pool that from close up, the damage was “worse than imaginable. I don’t think anybody can be prepared for the vastness of this destruction.”

“People here are going to see compassion pour in here,” Bush added. “We’re going to clean all this mess up.”

During a question-and-answer session, he emphatically rejected the notion that the rescue and relief efforts were hampered by the deployment of troops and equipment to Iraq.

“I just completely disagree,” the president said. “We’ve got plenty of resources to do both.”

Asked about his earlier remarks that the results of the relief effort were “not acceptable,” Bush said, “I’m talking about the fact that we don’t have enough security in New Orleans yet.”

Pressed to explain problems in the government response, the president said: “The levees broke on Tuesday in New Orleans. On Wednesday and Thursday we started evacuating people. A lot of people have left that city. A lot of people have been pulled out on buses. I am satisfied with the response. I’m not satisfied with all the results.”

He continued: “They started pulling people off roofs immediately. They started rallying -- we started rallying choppers to get people off rooftops, started savings lives. I mean, thousands of people’s lives have been saved immediately, and that’s good news.”

The president declined to give an opinion on how, or whether, to rebuild New Orleans in its current location, which is largely below sea level. “We’re going to get somebody who knows what they’re talking about when it comes to rebuilding cities,” he said. “I’m going to delegate.”

Separately, First Lady Laura Bush flew from Texas to Lafayette, La., where she toured the Cajundome, which the city had turned into an evacuation center for more than 6,000 refugees.

She did not pull punches when asked about the federal government’s response in New Orleans. “This response is not an adequate response,” she said. “This is not the kind of response the federal government wants. We know that we can do it better.”