As guests entered the East Room of the White House and took their seats to witness President Barack Obama pay tribute to the New Orleans Saints, the band played the classic tune, “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Once the members of the audience, which included children from local Boys & Girls Clubs, gave a standing ovation to President Obama and the New Orleans Saints, a few of the attendees began shouting, “Who Dat?” (a phrase that Saints’ fans adopted from the HBCU school Grambling University).
This was an extraordinary celebration for a team that overcame immense trials and tribulations.
President Obama commended the Saints for their upset victory against the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV. However, the president also praised the team for what they accomplished off the field and how they persevered through Hurricane Katrina.
“Five years ago, this team played its entire season on the road,” President Obama said. “It didn’t have a home field. The Superdome had been ruined by Hurricane Katrina. The heartbreaking tragedies that unfolded there when it was used as a shelter from that terrible storm, lingered all too fresh in a lot of people’s minds.
“And back then, people didn’t even know if the team was coming back. People didn’t know if the city was coming back. Not only did the team come back -– it took its city’s hands and helped its city back on its feet. This team took the hopes and the dreams of a shattered city and placed them squarely on its shoulders.
“This entire team has worked with Habitat for Humanity to rebuild neighborhoods in New Orleans. And so these guys became more than leaders in the locker room — they became leaders of an entire region.”
President Obama also discussed the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
“And obviously the Gulf region has spent the last few months besieged by yet another crisis,” President Obama said. “But last week we received the news that we had hoped for. Yesterday, we learned that a procedure to prevent any more oil from spilling with a cement plug appears to have succeeded. And the final steps will be taken later in August when the relief well is completed. But what is clear is that the battle to stop the oil from flowing into the Gulf is just about over.”
Before the ceremony, members of the New Orleans Saints joined President Obama in exercising with the children from the Boys & Girls Clubs to support the Let’s Move initiative and the NFL’s Play60 program.
–amir shaw
