THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  It is good to be back.  (Applause.)  It is good to be back.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  It’s good to have you back!

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m glad.  (Laughter.)  And due to popular demand, I decided to bring the First Lady down here.  (Applause.)

We have just an extraordinary number of dedicated（专注的，献身的） public servants who are here.  If you will be patient with me, I want to make sure that all of them are acknowledged.  First of all, you’ve got the governor of the great state of Louisiana -- Bobby Jindal is here.  (Applause.)  We have the outstanding mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu.  (Applause.)  We have the better looking and younger senator from Louisiana, Mary Landrieu.  (Applause.)

I believe that Senator David Vitter is here.  David -- right here.  (Applause.)  We have -- hold on a second now -- we’ve got Congressman Joe Cao is here.  (Applause.)  Congressman Charlie Melancon is here.  (Applause.)  Congressman Steve Scalise is here.  (Applause.)

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who has been working tirelessly down here in Louisiana, Shaun Donovan.  (Applause.)  We’ve got our EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson here -- homegirl.  (Applause.)  Administrator of FEMA Craig Fugate is here.  (Applause.)  The person who’s heading up our community service efforts all across the country -- Patrick Corvington is here.  (Applause.)  Louisiana’s own Regina Benjamin, the Surgeon General -- (applause) -- a Xavier grad, I might add.  (Applause.)  We are very proud to have all of these terrific public servants（公务员，公仆） here.

It is wonderful to be back in New Orleans, and it is a great honor --

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We can’t see you!

THE PRESIDENT:  It is a great honor -- (laughter) -- you can see me now?  (Laughter.)  Okay.  It is a great honor to be back at Xavier University.  (Applause.)  And I -- it’s just inspiring to spend time with people who’ve demonstrated what it means to persevere in the face of（面对） tragedy; to rebuild in the face of ruin.

I’m grateful to Jade for her introduction, and congratulate you on being crowned Miss Xavier.  (Applause.)  I hope everybody heard during the introduction she was a junior at Ben Franklin High School five years ago when the storm came.  And after Katrina, Ben Franklin High was terribly damaged by wind and water.  Millions of dollars were needed to rebuild the school.  Many feared it would take years to reopen -- if it could be reopened at all.

But something remarkable happened.  Parents, teachers, students, volunteers, they all got to work making repairs.  And donations came in from across New Orleans and around the world.  And soon, those silent and darkened corridors（走廊） , they were bright and they were filled with the sounds of young men and women, including Jade, who were going back to class.  And then Jade committed to Xavier, a university that likewise refused to succumb to（屈服于） despair.  So Jade, like so many students here at this university, embody hope.  That sense of hope in difficult times, that's what I came to talk about today.

It’s been five years since Katrina ravaged（破坏，蹂躏） the Gulf Coast.  There’s no need to dwell on（详述，细想） what you experienced and what the world witnessed.  We all remember it keenly:  water pouring through broken levees（堤坝） ; mothers holding their children above the waterline; people stranded on rooftops begging for help; bodies lying in the streets of a great American city.  It was a natural disaster but also a manmade catastrophe -- a shameful breakdown in government that left countless men, and women, and children abandoned and alone.

And shortly after the storm, I came down to Houston to spend time with some of the folks who had taken shelter there.  And I’ll never forget what one woman told me.  She said, “We had nothing before the hurricane.  And now we’ve got less than nothing.”

In the years that followed, New Orleans could have remained a symbol of destruction and decay; of a storm that came and the inadequate response that followed.  It was not hard to imagine a day when we’d tell our children that a once vibrant and wonderful city had been laid low by indifference and neglect.  But that’s not what happened.  It’s not what happened at Ben Franklin.  It’s not what happened here at Xavier.  It’s not what happened across New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast.  (Applause.)  Instead this city has become a symbol of resilience and of community and of the fundamental responsibility that we have to one another.

And we see that here at Xavier.  Less than a month after the storm struck, amidst debris and flood-damaged buildings, President Francis promised that this university would reopen in a matter of months.  (Applause.)  Some said he was crazy.  Some said it couldn’t happen.  But they didn’t count on what happens when one force of nature meets another.  (Laughter.)  And by January -- four months later -- class was in session.  Less than a year after the storm, I had the privilege of delivering a commencement（开始，发端） address to the largest graduating class in Xavier’s history.  That is a symbol of what New Orleans is all about.  (Applause.)

We see New Orleans in the efforts of Joycelyn Heintz, who’s here today.  Katrina left her house 14 feet underwater.  But after volunteers helped her rebuild, she joined AmeriCorps to serve the community herself -- part of a wave of AmeriCorps members who’ve been critical to the rebirth of this city and the rebuilding of this region.  (Applause.)  So today, she manages a local center for mental health and wellness.

We see the symbol that this city has become in the St. Bernard Project, whose founder Liz McCartney is with us.  (Applause.)  This endeavor has drawn volunteers from across the country to rebuild hundreds of homes throughout St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward.

I’ve seen the sense of purpose people felt after the storm when I visited Musicians’ Village in the Ninth Ward back in 2006.  Volunteers were not only constructing houses; they were coming together to preserve the culture of music and art that’s part of the soul of this city -- and the soul of this country.  And today, more than 70 homes are complete, and construction is underway on the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.  (Applause.)

We see the dedication to the community in the efforts of Xavier grad Dr. Regina Benjamin, who mortgaged her home, maxed out her credit cards so she could reopen her Bayou la Batre clinic to care for victims of the storm -- and who is now our nation’s Surgeon General.  (Applause.)

And we see resilience（恢复力，弹力） and hope exemplified by students at Carver High School, who have helped to raise more than a million dollars to build a new community track and football field -- their “Field of Dreams” -- for the Ninth Ward.  (Applause.)

So because of all of you -- all the advocates, all the organizers who are here today, folks standing behind me who’ve worked so hard, who never gave up hope -- you are all leading the way toward a better future for this city with innovative approaches to fight poverty and improve health care, reduce crime, and create opportunities for young people.  Because of you, New Orleans is coming back.  (Applause.)

And I just came from Parkway Bakery and Tavern.  (Applause.)  Five years ago, the storm nearly destroyed that neighborhood institution.  I saw the pictures.  Now they’re open, business is booming, and that’s some good eats.  (Laughter.)  I had the shrimp po’boy and some of the gumbo.  (Applause.)  But I skipped the bread pudding because I thought I might fall asleep while I was speaking.  (Laughter.)  But I’ve got it saved for later.  (Laughter.)

Five years ago, many questioned whether people could ever return to this city.  Today, New Orleans is one of the fastest growing cities in America, with a big new surge in small businesses.  Five years ago, the Saints had to play every game on the road because of the damage to the Superdome.  Two weeks ago, we welcomed the Saints to the White House as Super Bowl champions.  (Applause.)  There was also food associated with that.  (Laughter.)  We marked the occasion with a 30-foot po’boy made with shrimps and oysters（牡蛎） from the Gulf.  (Applause.)  And you’ll be pleased to know there were no leftovers.  (Laughter.)

Now, I don’t have to tell you that there are still too many vacant（空缺的） and overgrown lots.  There are still too many students attending classes in trailers.  There are still too many people unable to find work.  And there are still too many New Orleanians, folks who haven’t been able to come home.  So while an incredible amount of progress has been made, on this fifth anniversary, I wanted to come here and tell the people of this city directly:  My administration is going to stand with you -- and fight alongside you -- until the job is done.  (Applause.)  Until New Orleans is all the way back, all the way.  (Applause.) 

When I took office, I directed my Cabinet to redouble our efforts, to put an end to the turf wars（地盘战） between agencies, to cut the red tape and cut the bureaucracy（官僚主义） .  (Applause.)  I wanted to make sure that the federal government was a partner -- not an obstacle -- to recovery here in the Gulf Coast.  And members of my Cabinet -- including EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, who grew up in Pontchartrain Park -- (applause) -- they have come down here dozens of times.  Shaun Donovan has come down here dozens of times.  This is not just to make appearances.  It’s not just to get photo ops.  They came down here to listen and to learn and make real the changes that were necessary so that government was actually working for you.