A number of accounts on Twitter are claiming that unlike President Donald Trump, who visited Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on Wednesday August 29, President Barack Obama did not visit New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina came ashore, caused significant flooding in the city.
Idiots. OBAMA WAS NOT PRESIDENT DURING KATRINA. pic.twitter.com/ENwiE9FyD0
— Jen ⚖️ (@ellewoodsruns) August 29, 2017
Obama went to New Orleans, and he wasn’t even president
Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005 as a Category 3 hurricane. At the time, George W. Bush was President of the United States, not Mr. Obama.
Mr. Obama had only recently begun his career as junior U.S. Senator for the state of Illinois on January 3, 2005, just months before Katrina struck. Obama would serve in the Senate until 2008, when was elected the 44th president.
Photojournalist Richard Carson was with the delegation of former presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush on September 5, 2005 as they visited evacuees in the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.
George W. Bush was roundly criticized for for his handling of the disaster recovery efforts. Bush wrote in his 2010 memoir “Decision Points” that the poor response to Katrina, along with the Iraq war, made 2005 “a damaging period in my presidency.”
The U.S. federal government was criticized for not having been prepared for the storm, which led to delayed responses to flooding in New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was also faulted for not properly implementing shelter and food distribution plans.
But Barack Obama was not president, and he did visit Katrina victims.
