Saturday, January 14, 2006

NO, WE AREN'T making this up: When President Bush visited New Orleans this week, he really did call it "a heck of a place to bring your family," deploying the same infamous turn of phrase he used in the middle of Hurricane Katrina ("Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job") to praise his feckless former emergency management boss. Never mind -- Mr. Bush's visit provides a good moment to examine his administration's somewhat conflicted attitude to the city since then.

Certainly the president, both behind the scenes and in public, has been warmly supportive of the idea of rebuilding New Orleans. He has told city politicians and advocates in private that he follows the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast carefully, and they say he seems to understand the size of the problem. In September, he swore to "do what it takes . . . stay as long as it takes" to rebuild the city. This week, he seemed intent on spreading optimism, calling New Orleans a "great place to have a convention or a great place to visit." The White House

also helped broker congressional approval of a portion of reconstruction money just before Christmas.

What the president has not done yet is commit himself publicly to any of the plans that would ensure New Orleans's long-term survival. In particular, he has kept silent about the legislation proposed by Rep. Richard H. Baker (R-La.) that would create an agency mandated to buy the remains of flooded homes, allowing their owners to pay back mortgages and relocate to drier parts of the city. This kind of federal support would make it politically possible for the New Orleans mayor, C. Ray Nagin (D), to push forward the reconceived city he presented to city residents this week: A smaller and better-integrated New Orleans, built on higher ground. Both Mr. Baker and Mr. Nagin agree that lower, more flood-prone parts of the city could either be redeveloped later, if levees are improved, or turned into wetlands and parks.

It's a bold, unusual project, and it has the support of most Louisiana politicians. But it needs outside support, especially White House support, if it is to pass an easily distracted Congress. Mr. Bush didn't mention it when he was in New Orleans this week, and has said very little that is specific about the city's long-term future. Yet this bill, or something like it, is what New Orleans needs to remain the "heck of a place" that the president so admires.