President Barack Obama on Sunday toured the dissipation wrought by a monster tornado,
express sympathy the bereaved and committed the government to helping Joplin rebuild until the job is done.
Obama said "This is not just your tragedy. This is a national tragedy, and that means there will be a national response,"
Air Force One flew over a massive swath of brown as far as the eye could see a landscape of flattened houses and stripped trees on its approach.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and others greeted him on the tarmac before they set out for their first stop, a walking tour of a destroyed neighborhood.
A memorial service later was punctuating a day of remembrance one week after the disaster.
Obama's parade pulled into a neighborhood where downed trees cleaved open houses, roofs were stripped or blown off, cars were cratered and splintered
wood was everywhere. He saw nothing whole, but rather small domestic sights — a view into a room with a TV still in place, a recliner sitting amid rubble,
a washer-dryer standing next to a decimated house. American flags were planted here and there in the mess.
"Sorry for your loss," Obama told an anguished woman, hugging her twice as they talked. Another woman told him that her uncle lives up the road — he survived but his house did not. "Tell your uncle we're praying for him," the president said.
To those working at the scene, the president said: "We appreciate everything you guys are doing. God bless you." One volunteer told him that people were streaming in from other states to help any way they could.
Obama vowed: "We are going to be here long after the cameras leave. We're not going to stop `til Joplin's back on its feet."
Obama returned to the U.S. on Saturday from a six-day European tour of Ireland, Britain, France and Poland. After days of focusing on the U.S. relationship with the rest of the world, he turned to an even more critical connection: his own, with the American people. He was visiting survivors and the bereaved from the worst tornado in decades, which tore through Joplin a week ago leaving more than 120 dead and hundreds more injured. At least 40 remain unaccounted for, and
the damage is massive.
express sympathy the bereaved and committed the government to helping Joplin rebuild until the job is done.
Obama said "This is not just your tragedy. This is a national tragedy, and that means there will be a national response,"
Air Force One flew over a massive swath of brown as far as the eye could see a landscape of flattened houses and stripped trees on its approach.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and others greeted him on the tarmac before they set out for their first stop, a walking tour of a destroyed neighborhood.
A memorial service later was punctuating a day of remembrance one week after the disaster.
Obama's parade pulled into a neighborhood where downed trees cleaved open houses, roofs were stripped or blown off, cars were cratered and splintered
wood was everywhere. He saw nothing whole, but rather small domestic sights — a view into a room with a TV still in place, a recliner sitting amid rubble,
a washer-dryer standing next to a decimated house. American flags were planted here and there in the mess.
"Sorry for your loss," Obama told an anguished woman, hugging her twice as they talked. Another woman told him that her uncle lives up the road — he survived but his house did not. "Tell your uncle we're praying for him," the president said.
To those working at the scene, the president said: "We appreciate everything you guys are doing. God bless you." One volunteer told him that people were streaming in from other states to help any way they could.
Obama vowed: "We are going to be here long after the cameras leave. We're not going to stop `til Joplin's back on its feet."
Obama returned to the U.S. on Saturday from a six-day European tour of Ireland, Britain, France and Poland. After days of focusing on the U.S. relationship with the rest of the world, he turned to an even more critical connection: his own, with the American people. He was visiting survivors and the bereaved from the worst tornado in decades, which tore through Joplin a week ago leaving more than 120 dead and hundreds more injured. At least 40 remain unaccounted for, and
the damage is massive.
