Obama marks Katrina anniversary

President Obama on Saturday used his weekly radio address to acknowledge the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, praising the resilience of New Orleans while promising new preparedness measures.

Obama tipped his hat to the lessons learned from the category three storm, which will guide the administration’s handling of new domestic challenges, including a possible swine flu emergency.

{mosads}“Since taking office in January, my Administration has focused on helping citizens finish the work of rebuilding their lives and communities, while taking steps to prevent similar catastrophes going forward,” Obama said, adding that he plans to visit New Orleans before the year’s end. “Our approach is simple: government must keep its responsibility to the people, so that Americans have the opportunity to take responsibility for their future.”

The president said Gulf Coast residents had kept “their end of the bargain.” Although Hurricane Katrina dealt billions of dollars in damage to the region, Obama said local communities had recovered at an impressive rate, rebuilding countless schools and homes and incubating new businesses.

“To cite just one hopeful indicator, New Orleans is the fastest growing city in America, as many who had been displaced are now coming home,” he said.

Obama reiterated that the federal government, too, had reformed in the aftermath of the storm. Since taking office, the president said his administration has reduced bureaucratic red tape and addressed a number of old turf wars – a process, he added, made easier by the appointment of Craig Fugate as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

But Obama also used the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina to segue into another matter of increasing domestic concern – swine flu. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control estimated the virus could infect up to 1.8 million Americans, with infections peaking by October.

“My Administration is working aggressively with state and local governments – and with partners around the world – to prepare for the risk posed by the H1N1 virus,” the president said of the White House’s swine flu efforts.

Obama did not provide specifics, opting instead to direct concerned listeners to Ready.gov, FEMA’s emergency preparedness hub on the Web. But the president did suggest that his administration was working to become more proactive in general when confronting national emergencies of that scale.

“So on this day, we commemorate a tragedy that befell our people,” Obama said. “But we also remember that with every tragedy comes the chance of renewal. It is a quintessentially American notion – that adversity can give birth to hope, and that the lessons of the past hold the key to a better future.”