Obama: ‘I Could Not Be Prouder of the Work FEMA Has Done’

OBAMA: "I just want to repeat is how proud I am of FEMA because if you think about the number of significant natural disasters that have occurred since my presidency began, you would be hard-pressed to find a local official anywhere in the country, including those in the other party, who would not say that Craig Fugate and his team have been anything less than exemplary and professional. One of the things I did when I walked through each of these homes was asked, have you contacted FEMA, have you filed? Uniformly, they said that they had been in touch with FEMA, they had acted professionally, some of them had already  been out for inspections. I think that does indicate why it is important for us to take the federal government seriously, federal workers seriously. There is a tendency sometimes to bash them and to think that they are these faceless bureaucrats. But when you get into trouble, you want somebody who knows what they are doing, who is on the ground working with outstanding officials, and that is true whatever party. I could not be prouder of the work that FEMA has done."