Obama's growing New Orleans controversy

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- President Obama, who as a candidate lambasted the federal government for its response to Hurricane Katrina, is visiting New Orleans, Louisiana, as president for the first time Thursday, and is attracting some criticism of his own.

Four years after Katrina, evidence of the storm's devastation still lingers. About 60,000 properties in New Orleans are still abandoned, and 1,500 people in Louisiana are still living in temporary housing, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Army Corps of Engineers is only a third of the way through a $15 billion system to provide 100-year flood protection for the city.

However, the agency says 76 disputed projects in Louisiana have been resolved since Obama took office, and more than $1.4 billion in aid has been sent to Louisiana, along with more than $160 million to Mississippi. And it says that more than 89,000 Louisiana households and 45,044 Mississippi households displaced by Katrina -- and by Hurricane Rita, which hit a month later -- have found longer-term housing solutions.

The emergency agency also says more than $1 billion from the stimulus program has been targeted forNew Orleans.

The administration's efforts have received praise. In August, on the fourth anniversary of Katrina, the Times-Picayune quoted Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, as saying he had a lot of respect for emergency management Administrator Craig Fugate and his team.

"There is a sense of momentum and a desire to get things done," the newspaper reported Jindal as saying.

Still, the length and nature of Obama's visit are drawing ire.

Obama will spend less than four hours in New Orleans -- visiting a charter school and holding a town hall meeting -- before flying to a fundraiser in San Francisco, California. He will not be visiting other areas of the Gulf Coast that suffered damage from Katrina in 2005, such as the Mississippi Coast.Still, the length and nature of Obama's visit are drawing ire.