Bush returns to New Orleans for 10th anniversary of Katrina

Former President George W. Bush, right, laughs with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu as they enter a roundtable discussion on education at Warren Easton Charter High School in New Orleans, Friday, Aug. 28, 2015. Bush is in town to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which is Saturday.
Former President George W. Bush, right, laughs with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu as they enter a roundtable discussion on education at Warren Easton Charter High School in New Orleans, Friday, Aug. 28, 2015. Bush is in town to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which is Saturday.

NEW ORLEANS — Former President George W. Bush returned Friday to New Orleans to tout the region's recovery from the nation's costliest natural disaster on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

He and Laura Bush visited the oldest public school in the city — Warren Easton Charter High School, which was closed for a year because of storm damage and then reopened as a charter school. Bush visited the same school on the storm's first anniversary, and the library foundation of his wife helped rebuild it.

The Bushes met with students and were greeted by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and former Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco, who fought hard to get federal aid during Katrina. Laura Bush wore a purple dress to honor the school's colors.

The monster storm set off a "confluence of blunders" that Bush's approval ratings never recovered from, said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University and author of "The Great Deluge," a detailed account of the first days after Katrina. "That's when I think his presidency started on a downward trend."

See Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full coverage.

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