First lady Laura Bush, President Bush and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco receive blessings Tuesday during a memorial mass at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, a mass for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14567350/NEW ORLEANS - President Bush acknowledged Tuesday that the government response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was inadequate but maintained that “my heart and my soul is to help these people, and they know it.”
“I think we should have had better coordination with the state and local government,” the president said in an interview to air Tuesday night on “NBC Nightly News.” “The enormity of the storm just overwhelmed all aspects of government.”
Bush told “Nightly News” anchor and Managing Editor Brian Williams that the Mississippi Gulf Coast was “still a mess” a year after New Orleans’ levees buckled, unleashing a torrent of water that ripped homes from their foundations and sent half the city into an uncertain exile. “This is a massive test,” Bush said. But as he reflected on what he had seen in the last two days marking the anniversary of Katrina, the president said local communities could count on him to do everything he could to make things right.
“When it’s all said and done, the people down here know that I stood in Jackson Square
and said, ‘We’re going to help you,’ and we delivered,” he said. “What matters is that we help the good people here rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, and we’re going to do that. “You know, commitments in politics sometimes mean nothing,” Bush added. “I made a commitment that means something.”