Obama makes first trip to New Orleans as president

Obama arrives in New Orleans Thursday on his first presidential trip to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. About 1,600 people were killed in Louisiana and Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina, which caused $40 billion in damages and displaced 1 million people from their homes.

The storm was a natural disaster that turned into a political one for Bush.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was widely criticized for a slow response. And local officials have complained that the Bush administration often stubbornly refused to pay for work that should have qualified for federal aid.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, has credited Obama's team with bringing a more practical and flexible approach to the reconstruction process. "There's a sense of momentum and a desire to get things done," he said in August.

When Obama became president, FEMA said there were more than 120 Louisiana reconstruction projects stalled in federal-state disputes. Since January, 76 of those have been resolved. But there's still much to do.

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