NEW ORLEANS -- President Bush on Wednesday visits a city where some say one of the biggest failures of his administration occurred, a city in which the devastation of Hurricane Katrina can still be seen in decimated neighborhoods and heard in the angry voices of frustrated residents.

Associated Press

President Bush

It's a much different New Orleans than the one in September 2005, when just weeks after Katrina when parts of the city were still under water, Bush delivered a hopeful speech in Jackson Square.

Tourists, lured by conventions and big events, have returned in force; dozens of schools have reopened, with many are now run by private organizations as public, charter schools; and, by one estimate, at least 322,900 people are back.

But huge challenges remain, from overhauling institutions such as health care and criminal justice to fortifying and expanding a ow-tourist-dependent economy and providing affordable housing in a poverty-plagued city of renters before Katrina.

One phrase in Bush's speech, "to do what it takes" to help residents rebuild, has stuck in people's minds and thrown around in the heat of political battle on such issues as levee funding.

Bush has been spending time at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. He's scheduled to give a speech in Florida, weather permitting, before visiting New Orleans and Gulfport, Miss., and returning to Crawford.

Marguerite Doyle-Johnston blames the federal government for a lack of progress in her 9th Ward neighborhood. The difference between now and three years ago, she said: the water and mud is out of the streets.

"Everything you own, cherish it, because once you lose it, you don't get it back," she said. "It's like a bad dream. Your federal government (doesn't) have your best interests at heart."

Such sentiments bother Bush's hurricane recovery chief, who assisted in the rescue and evacuation of residents after Katrina.

While the Bush administration has been widely criticized for its sluggish opening response to Katrina, retired Maj. Gen. Doug O'Dell said Tuesday that missteps were made at all levels of government and that none in and of themselves was "catastrophic."

"When I look at the energy and the commitment that has gone into the federal response over the last three years, I find it really difficult to understand why any one could ... say that it has been inadequate. Because that's just patently untrue," O'Dell said.

Since the storm, he said, the federal government has committed at least $126 billion to help the Gulf Coast recover, including aid to rebuild houses, levees and public buildings and programs such as work force training.

The administration, amid calls by congressional Democrats, gave in to the state's request to extend from three years to 30 payment of its $1.8 billion share of flood protection work, and, O'Dell said, the government remains involved in issues such as health care and housing.

O'Dell, a blunt talker who replaced Don Powell as federal coordinator for Gulf Coast rebuilding earlier this year, has begun holding meetings with local, state and federal officials in an effort to overcome any obstacles -- bureaucratic or otherwise -- and get firm commitments to see key rebuilding projects to fruition.

Of the $3.8 billion the Federal Emergency Management Agency had set aside for permanent, infrastructure projects in Louisiana as of last week, the state had paid out $1.1 billion to the local level.

He argues it's not a matter of resources -- "they're there" -- it's putting them to use. Responsibility there falls to state and local governments, but O'Dell said part of his charge is evaluating the regulations that govern disaster recovery.

Part of the lag has been disagreements between federal, state and local officials on the value of certain projects, said Paul Rainwater, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

He said he hopes to hear from Bush an ongoing commitment to the region as the transition to another administration nears. Rainwater gives the administration, in its last months, credit for the energy being expended on "tough issues" such as rebuilding fire houses and a teaching hospital in New Orleans.

Bush has maintained relatively strong ratings in the state when compared with other areas.

A Southern Media & Opinion Research poll of likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, from June 26-28 found 46.5 percent of respondents had some or very favorable views of Bush.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, a fellow Republican, has enjoyed strong approval ratings during his first months in office. A June 25-28 poll by the University of New Orleans Survey Research Center, with a margin of error of plus or minus 9.4 percentage points in the city, found residents giving Mayor Ray Nagin, mayor during Katrina, a 31 percent approval rating.

"One of the things about President Bush, a fundamental characteristic, is he's very unapologetic. And it's not like him to come down and say, mea culpa," said Pearson Cross, head of the political cience department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

"It's like him to come down and in some sense, stare down his critics and perhaps to say the president really does care about Katrina and New Orleans and make kind of a statement there." Bush visited New Orleans last year on the second anniversary of

Katrina; this year, he's coming nine days before. Cross said he's surprised he's coming at all -- particularly just days before the start of the Democratic convention.

"It's a dangerous gambit, I think, for President Bush to come down, to direct the national press to think about Katrina immediately preceding the Democrats, who'd love to hold his feet to the fire," Cross said. "It's really like, I hate to say this, but 'bring it on."'

But he said it also may have its upside.

"In some ways," he said, "it's a brilliant stroke: go to the scene of what many regard as one of the signature failures of your administration and take one more shot at trying to recast the image of what others have of that."

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