By The Editors

On the fifth anniversary of the great hurricane that submerged most of New Orleans, President Obama traveled to the Big Easy to assure its residents that “all of America, not just people here, not just folks in the White House, but all of America remains concerned and remains committed to their rebuilding.”

Speaking at Xavier University, the historically black institution, the President acknowledged the grievous blow that some predicted at the time would doom the city to extinction. “There are some wounds that do not heal. There are some losses that cannot be repaid. And for many who lived through those harrowing days five years ago, there is a searing memory that time will not erase.”

Nonetheless, he continued, the rebuilding efforts led by local officials and residents had already made the city and the entire Gulf region “a symbol of resilience and of community and of the fundamental responsibility that we have to one another.”

With several members of his Cabinet present, the President listed some of the programs the administration had undertaken and is planning to help the city and the region recover from both Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill such that history will record the city’s and the country’s response to these catastrophes as “not one of neglect, but of action; not one of indifference, but of empathy; not of abandonment, but of a community working together to meet shared challenges.”