Yesterday was not President Obama’s first visit to New Orleans after the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, but it was his first time as the head of federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security who came under criticism for their response in the immediate aftermath of the crisis.

At a town hall meeting at the University of New Orleans, the president acknowledged that the U.S. federal government “wasn’t adequately prepared and we didn’t adequately respond” in late August 2005, and there is still “a long way to go” towards a full recovery. “There are sewers and roads still to repair. There are houses and hospitals still vacant. There are schools and neighborhoods still waiting to thrive once more,” he said.

But progress has been made in getting more federal assistance to the city, reducing the number of residents living in emergency housing, and moving forward on stalled infrastructure, education and health projects, he said, and the Recovery Act has “put thousands of Gulf Coast residents back to work.”

“We will not forget about New Orleans,” he promised. “[T]here are too many folks out there who are having a tough time — to get tired,” and who are still working hard to rebuild their unique community.

“The story of this city’s resilience begins with all the men and women who refused to give up on their homes; who stayed to clean up and rebuild — not just their own homes or their own yards or their own lives, but their neighbors’, too,” he said.

The people of New Orleans “have reminded the rest of America what it means to persevere in the face of tragedy, to rebuild in the face of ruin,” Obama said.

President Obama became the first president to light a ceremonial Diya at the White House to mark the observance of Diwali, the “festival of lights.” He also used the occasion to sign a new initiative aimed at expanding opportunities for Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage.

Diwali, holy to Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists, has a different significance to each faith, but the president said the lamps symbolize “the victory of light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance.” The festival is a time for both rejoicing and reflecting on the less fortunate, he said.

“In that spirit of celebration and contemplation, I am happy to light the White House Diya, and wish you all a Happy Diwali, and a Saal Mubarak,” he told White House guests at the October 14 ceremony.

The president then signed an executive order to set up a commission to find the most effective ways of helping Americans of East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian heritage, as well as descendants of Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.

There are “very real challenges” facing certain Asian-American communities, he said, such as having higher than average rates of diabetes and Hepatitis B, higher school dropout rates, low college enrollment rates, and economic disparities, particularly among those of Hmong, Cambodian and Malaysian descent. In addition, Obama said many continue to face language and workplace barriers, and have been victims of hate crimes.

The U.S. government can provide help, he said. For example, the Small Business Administration can offer loans to Asian-American entrepreneurs, the Department of Health and Human Services can fund research on the diseases that disproportionately affect them, and the Justice Department can uphold their right to vote, as well as provide language assistance at the polls. The two year commission will collect data on the many communities in order to find the most effective means of helping them.

Gays and lesbians are still struggling for acceptance and equal rights in the United States, and President Obama has told them “I’m here with you in that fight.”

The president spoke to 3000 people at a black-tie dinner of the Human Rights Campaign in Washington October 10, and said he would end the U.S. military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy, which has allowed gays to serve their country only if they can keep their sexual orientation secret. He also said he expects Congress to pass legislation extending the definition of a hate crime to include violence based on sexual orientation so he can sign it into law. Members of Congress are also working to pass an employee non-discrimination bill that would prohibit a worker from being fired simply for being gay.

Obama compared the struggle for gay rights to the African-American Civil Rights movement, and said “we cannot — and we will not — put aside issues of basic equality,” despite the many other urgent challenges facing today’s United States.

“My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians,” Obama said. “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.”

What is the status of gays and lesbians in your country? Is sexual orientation an issue of public debate, a non-issue, or something that cannot be freely discussed?

“This is not how I expected to wake up this morning,” the president said, after hearing that the Norwegian Nobel Committee had awarded him with the prestigious Nobel Prize for Peace. “I am both surprised and deeply humbled,” he said, and “do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”

“To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace,” he said.

There have been detractors in the United States and overseas for the Nobel Committee’s decision. After only nine months in office, the president’s vision of eliminating nuclear weapons and his renewed emphasis on global cooperation and dialogue to resolve challenges such as climate change and pandemic disease have not yet accomplished their goals. Obama himself said today that some of his policy goals may not be completed during his administration, and the elimination of nuclear weapons “may not be completed in my lifetime.”

But when Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland announced the decision in Oslo, he compared President Obama to other peace prize winners such as former West Berlin mayor Willy Brandt and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose own reform efforts had not been achieved when they received the prize.

“The question we have to ask is who has done the most in the previous year to enhance peace in the world,” Jagland said. “And who has done more than Barack Obama?”

The president said the prize has been used to “give momentum” to causes, and he said he sees the award, which will be given in Oslo December 10, as “a call to action” for the United States and all nations to “confront the common challenges of the 21st century.”

What do you think about this surprise announcement? Do you think this will help or inadvertently hurt President Obama as he tries to advance his policy goals?

Yesterday, the New York Times published a fascinating article compiling research on first lady Michelle Obama’s genealogical background. I have always been a fan of genealogy because it can shift the historical focus from the famous to the more “common” people, offering a much fuller and more accurate picture of what life was actually like. What the story of the first lady’s ancestors shows is a family’s slow but steady rise over more than a century from the worst of conditions, indignities and abuses to becoming a celebrated and influential symbol of today’s United States.

Much of the information in the article is also apparently new to the first lady and the rest of her family. As I blogged and wrote about earlier this year, many descendants of slaves and slaveholders are simply not aware of their past, or share a common desire not to talk about it out of a sense of shame. But, as President Obama said during his campaign, instead of continuing to sweep the issue under the carpet or simply declare it “ancient history,” slavery is something many Americans, black and white, still need to come to terms with if they are going to move forward together to build a more unified country.

Of course, the United States is not alone in having skeletons in its closet. When you think about your family’s history, what historical legacies still lurk in the shadows and perhaps play a part in your country’s modern day politics? Does knowing your family’s role help you understand and motivate you to move forward, or would you rather not know?

President Obama, who I can also describe as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of my company, the U.S. federal government, ordered us to start measuring our greenhouse gas emissions and set targets within 90 days to reduce them by the year 2020.

In the president’s Executive Order, which he issued October 5, there are two important things to bear in mind with this requirement. One is that the U.S. federal government is the largest energy consumer in the U.S. economy, occupying nearly 500,000 buildings, operating more than 600,000 vehicles, and purchasing more than $500 billion per year in goods and services. I am also one of more than 1.8 million civilian employees. In other words, that’s about the same number of employees as Walmart, the world’s largest employer, had in 2005.

Which brings me to the second point: President Obama wants his employees to lead by example “when it comes to creating innovative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency, conserve water, reduce waste, and use environmentally-responsible products and technologies.”

Along with coming up with a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, we “feds” are also being asked to meet other targets such as 50 percent recycling and waste diversion by 2015, a 30 percent reduction in vehicle-fleet petroleum use by 2020, and a 26 percent improvement in water efficiency by 2020.

I’m curious to see what plans the State Department will come up with by January 5, 2010. From my tiny little corner of the federal government, I can see one way of making my workplace more green: automatic hand dryers as an alternative to paper towels.