Seeking to avoid a Hurricane Katrina-like leadership failure, President Barack Obama assured the nation Saturday he was keeping close watch on the Midwest floods and putting the government's full weight behind efforts to prevent disaster.
"Even as we face an economic crisis which demands our constant focus, forces of nature can also intervene in ways that create other crises to which we must respond — and respond urgently," the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
"I will continue to monitor the situation carefully," he pledged. "We will do what must be done to help."
Obama also implored residents of North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota to be vigilant in reading flood-condition reports and to follow instructions from federal, state and local officials should evacuation be necessary. He repeatedly praised volunteers stockpiling sandbags and building levees, saying "their service isn't just inspirational — it's integral to our response."
In North Dakota, Fargo's fears of a catastrophic flood eased Saturday with word that the Red River apparently crested at lower-than-expected levels, and weary residents turned their attention to ensuring their hastily built levees hold up against an onslaught of ice-laden water expected to stay high for at least a week.
Obama was spending the weekend at Camp David before leaving Tuesday for a nearly weeklong European trip to address the global economic crisis with leaders of other world powers. But aides stressed that he was being kept abreast of the Midwest flooding despite being away from the White House.
In office just two months, Obama and his team no doubt are mindful of the Bush administration's bungled response in August 2005 to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast and highlighted the country's racial and economic divisions. George W. Bush's popularity took a beating in Katrina's aftermath, and the hurricane has been held up ever since as a symbol of the federal government's incompetence.
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