Question of the Day: President Obama, The Gulf Coast and Remembering Katrina (Video)

Over the weekend President Obama was in New Orleans giving a speech on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the damage it caused. More than 1,800 people lost their lives in the storm and the flooding that took place afterwards. The clean-up and rebuilding effort was complex, slow and often didn't reach the people who needed help the most. Five years later there are still problems in gulf region (now further complicated by the BP oil leak), but the city remains resiliant, vibrant and steadfast.

More after the jump.

From the Associated Press:

Obama's speech didn't offer any new plans for restoring the Gulf, bringing New Orleans' fast-disappearing wetlands back to life or cleaning up BP's spilled oil. Some residents had hoped Obama would take the opportunity to announce an early end to the deepwater drilling moratorium he enacted after the spill. But he made no mention of the moratorium, which people here say is costing jobs.

Obama did offer a list of accomplishments on Katrina recovery he said his administration has achieved, including helping move residents out of temporary housing, streamlining money for schools and restoration projects, and working to rebuild the poorly maintained levee system that failed the city when Katrina struck.

He promised that work on a fortified levee system would be finished by next year, "so that this city is protected against a 100-year storm. Because we should not be playing Russian roulette every hurricane season."

President George W. Bush and his administration were soundly criticized for their disaster response after Hurricane Katrina. Stories are still coming out about rampant corruption, funds that still haven't been released to victims and projects that have been neglected, not to mention the many outstanding controversial police cases and mysteries surrounding what happened in New Orleans imediately after the storm. PBS's Frontline and ProPublica recently put out an extensive report on the police and their shooting policies after the disaster struck.

Right now the Obama Administration is promising to forgive Katrina disaster loans, but local governments who took the funds are concerned about how they will qualify for the debt forgiveness when they must prove that they were unable to meet their operating costs for at least three years after the disaster to be eligible. Many of those loans, totally in the tens of millions or more, are due by the end of the year.

Also, the Obama Administration has delivered $3.4 billion in disaster relief funds to Lousiana and that money is being used to rebuild the region. But the wetlands and coastline remain unprotected and disappearing and there's still the matter of creating a better defense against future hurricanes and flooding.

But what do you think about President Obama's response to the gulf region?

How do you think the Obama Administration has handled wrangling corruption and providing the gulf the assistance it needs to both rebuild and reinvest in storm ravaged areas, and how has the President's response to the BP oil spill affected life in the gulf region? Give your answer in the comments below.