When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation I, as president, am responsible for the problem and for the solution.

I failed my own test.

Poverty has roots in the history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action.

And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility.

Yesterday I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana. And this morning, I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Mississippi.

There is progress being made. But there is a lot of serious and hard work that is yet to be done.

We need to make sure that this country is knitted up as well as it can be in order to deal with significant problems and disasters. In the meantime, we've got to keep moving forward, and I know there has been a lot of second guessing. I…

The storm didn't discriminate and neither will the recovery effort. When those Coast Guard choppers, many of whom were first on the scene, were pulling people off roofs, they didn't check the color of a person's skin. They wanted to save…

I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.

One of the things that people want us to do here is to play a blame game.

What I intend to do is lead an investigation to find out what went right and what went wrong. And I'll tell you why. It's a very important for us to understand the relationship between the federal government, the state government, and the…

I understand the damage. I understand the devastation. I understand the destruction. I understand how long it's going to take. And we're with you. That's what I want you to know.