Bush upbeat in 8th visit to region hit by Katrina

NEW ORLEANS — Six weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated this city, President Bush flew in on Monday night with a newly upbeat focus on progress that has been made, staying overnight at the luxury Windsor Court Hotel and meeting with local officials over dinner in the French Quarter.

With long-term temporary housing still an acute problem for thousands of hurricane victims, Bush and his wife, Laura, planned to visit a Habitat for Humanity home-building site early today for an interview on NBC's "Today" show. From there, they were to travel to Pass Christian, a gutted coastal town across the border in Mississippi, for the reopening of an elementary school.

"The president pledged that he would be a partner as the Gulf Coast region recovered and rebuilds itself," a White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, said in explaining the purpose of the trip. This is Bush's eighth visit to the region since Hurricane Katrina struck on Aug. 29 and his fifth to New Orleans, including the trip where he made a prime-time address from Jackson Square on Sept. 15.

At least in the president's public schedule, hurricane relief has taken a back seat in recent days as Bush has battled with conservatives over his selection of Harriet E. Miers, the White House counsel, for the Supreme Court. Other major developments — including a huge earthquake in Pakistan, the winding down of a federal-leak investigation and the coming referendum on a constitution in Iraq — have also drawn attention away from the hurricane effort that dominated the White House agenda in early September.

The latest trip began Monday with a meeting with officials from Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes at the naval station in New Orleans.

Then at a dinner on Monday night, Bush met with community leaders from New Orleans who are participating in the Bring Back New Orleans Commission set up by Mayor C. Ray Nagin.

In his speech on Sept. 15, Bush proposed creating a Gulf Opportunity Zone that would stretch across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to provide incentives and tax breaks for businesses in areas hit by the storm in order to speed the rebuilding process. Duffy, the White House spokesman accompanying the president on Monday night, said the proposal was "pending in Congress," although no legislative blueprint has been issued by the White House or sent to lawmakers. Duffy said that instead, Congress would be encouraged to adopt proposals piecemeal in the course of normal legislative work.

"I think there was an expectation the White House would send a big 'Here's our recovery' package," Duffy said. "I think it's more like Congress is going to be moving various pieces of legislation."