By Kieran Murray
New Orleans - President George W Bush headed to the United States Gulf Coast on Sunday to confront a region where the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina were receding but anger and frustration still overflowed.
"I'm finding a lot of frustration, and it's a lot easier to deal with frustration than anger," said Vice-Admiral Thad Allen, chief of staff of the US Coast Guard, who was put in charge of rescue and recovery on Friday.
Bush's visit coincided with the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed about 2 700 people.
Then, he was able to unite and rally the nation. Now, he faces withering criticism for a bumbling governmental response to the August 29 hurricane and is suffering the lowest approval ratings of his presidency.
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New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said on NBC's "Meet the Press" he had the impression Bush was badly informed in the immediate aftermath of the storm which flooded his city, stranding thousands of people unwilling or unable to evacuate.
"I think the president for some reason probably did not understand the full magnitude of this catastrophe on the front end," said Nagin, who is himself facing severe criticism for his performance.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco could not reach either Bush or his chief of staff on the day the hurricane hit and had to leave a message pleading for help with a low-level adviser, Time magazine reported.
Illinois Democratic Senator Barack Obama said Bush seemed to lack empathy for those stranded by the hurricane, which devastated a large swathe of the Gulf Coast of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, driving around a million people from their homes
"It's puzzling, given his immediate response during 9/11, that he did not feel a greater sense of empathy towards the folks that were experiencing this enormous disaster," Obama said on ABC's "This Week".
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