(Newser)
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Just a day before the start of the Democratic National Convention, President Obama toured a storm-ravaged Louisiana neighborhood, promising federal aid and hailing rescuers. He drove to St. John the Baptist Parish 30 miles west of New Orleans, and went house to house in one neighborhood, reports ABC News. “There is enormous faith here, enormous strength here,” Obama said after his tour of battered houses, twisted road signs, and toppled trees yesterday. “You can see it with these families. They were just devastated a few days ago, and they are already smiling and laughing and feeling confident about the future and pulling together.”
Obama's visit was designed in part to highlight the president's concern for local suffering, and his deep engagement in the government's handling of Isaac's destruction, in contrast to George Bush, who was lashed for the sluggish federal response to Hurricane Katrina, which caused an estimated 1,800 deaths. Isaac was a much weaker storm with only six deaths. Mitt Romney visited Louisiana last week.
