I have been working in Louisiana for the past two months, and the impression down here is certainly that we have been forgotten. We call it "Katrina fatigue."
I've witnessed the destruction, both in New Orleans and in rural parishes. While efforts to clean up are progressing, the lack of leadership from the federal level is sapping the recovery of any momentum it had in the month following Katrina.
Even the promise of additional money for levee reconstruction demonstrates this. Down here, everyone wants Category 5 protection. Clearly this would have been a worthy investment pre-Katrina. But rather than promise that, the administration makes a vague offer that "the levee system will be better, much better and stronger than it ever has been before." Levees marginally stronger might still have failed in New Orleans. Without the guarantee of Category 5 protections, businesses and families will not come back.
To my mind, this is much like the President "taking responsibility" for the war -- it sounds good, but doesn't mean anything. Of course he's responsible; he's the commander in chief. I keep returning to the Iraq comparison. The toppling of the Saddam statue in Baghdad and the "Mission Accomplished" banner looked great, but then what? Similarly, the President sure looked pretty with St. Louis Cathedral behind him, but now what?
The City of New Orleans is dying a slow death and sporadic appropriations simply add to the uncertainty that is killing it. Congress needs to demonstrate a serious commitment to rebuilding the region, and that won't happen without Presidential leadership. Until then, the city will flounder as businesses and families rebuild elsewhere and all that will remain are these new stronger levees and memories of what was once a great American city.