Levees Not War

Laissez Obama Rouler

Our friend Oyster at Your Right Hand Thief sent us links to coverage of Barack Obama’s “O-vent” before a more-than-packed house at Tulane University’s Fogelman Arena on Wednesday, campaigning before the Louisiana primary on Saturday, Feb. 9.

The Obama campaign is rolling out a detailed plan for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast’s recovery. Obama said to the audience at Tulane:

“The Army Corps of Engineers has rebuilt the levees that were most damaged by the storm, but funding has sometimes stalled and New Orleans remains unprotected. . . . We can’t gamble every hurricane season, and that’s why when I am president we will finish building a system of levees that can withstand a 100-year storm by 2011—with the goal of expanding that protection to fend against a category 5 storm. . . .

“I know how hard it will be to rebuild New Orleans and bring back those people who are scattered across the country—to reduce poverty or violence and to get people on the right track. . . . But I also know this, that nothing worthwhile in this country has ever happened except somebody somewhere, was willing to hope.”

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