Veteran Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile lauded former President George W. Bush for his response to Hurricane Katrina while traveling with President Obama Thursday.
The Hill reported that Brazile, a native of Louisiana who served on the Louisiana Recovery Authority, was traveling aboard Air Force One with the president when she told reporters that Bush "got it right" when it came to the devastating 2005 weather event.
"Under President Bush’s leadership, we got it right," Brazile said aboard the flight destined for New Orleans, where Obama will speak Thursday to honor the 10th anniversary of the catastrophic hurricane.
Obama plans to take a veiled jab at Bush in his remarks. "What started out as a natural disaster became a manmade one—a failure of government to look out for its own citizens," he will say in his speech, according to the White House.
While Brazile labeled Bush’s initial response to the storm "slow," she blamed it on the disorder in Louisiana immediately following Katrina and ultimately championed Bush for securing more than $120 billion in federal relief to rebuild the affected communities.
"The president made a commitment and I think he kept his word," Brazile said.
Aspen Institute CEO Walter Isaacson, another member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority traveling with the president Thursday, likewise insisted that Bush "cared" deeply about the recovery of New Orleans.
"George W. Bush, I think, gets a bum rap," Isaacson explained. "It took a while to get things started, it was a little bit slow. But he cared about the city deeply and so did Laura Bush."
Bush, who will attend another 10th anniversary event in New Orleans Friday, was criticized in the wake of the 2005 storm for not immediately visiting New Orleans to survey the damage.