Obama says Joplin shows world how to come together

Face to face with the legions of homeless and the bereaved, President Barack Obama on Sunday toured the apocalyptic landscape left by Missouri's killer tornado, consoled the community and committed the government to helping rebuild shattered lives.

Check out our photo gallery of Obama in Joplin by clicking here

"We're not going to stop `til Joplin's back on its feet," Obama vowed. A memorial service where Obama spoke punctuated a day of remembrance one week after the disaster, as authorities pressed on with the task of identifying the victims and volunteers combed through wreckage of neighborhoods where nothing was left whole.

The service erupted in cheers when Obama said, "I promise you your country will be there with you every single step of the way," a pledge he extended to all parts of the nation raked by violent storms this season.

The Joplin tornado was the worst to hit the United States in decades, leaving more than 130 dead and hundreds more injured. Thirty-nine people remain unaccounted for. There are four more people whom family members have reported as deceased, but those deaths haven't been officially confirmed.

Air Force One flew over a massive swath of brown -- a land of flattened houses and stripped trees -- on its approach to Joplin. On the ground, the destruction was even more stark and complete. Obama confronted painful sights at every turn and said nothing in his life measured up to what he saw this day.

Yet he spoke, too, of redemptive moments, the stoicism of the community and tales of plain luck. He told a story of a man he talked to who had taken a chicken pot pie out of the oven, heard the storm was coming, hid in a closet and "came out without a scratch." Obama celebrated the spirit of volunteers who have flocked to Joplin to help, the pickup truck owners who ferried people to the hospital and the citizens who lined up for hours to donate blood to people they don't know.

"You've demonstrated a simple truth," he told the service, "that amid heartbreak and tragedy no one is a stranger. Everybody is a brother. Everybody is a sister. We can all love one another."

The crowd of hundreds at the service reflected a community in the midst of rebuilding: people in shorts and baseball caps, and plenty of babies who occasionally burst out crying. The president talked over the screeching until a baby was hurried out by the mother.

Obama got a notably warm reception in this conservative part of Missouri. His remarks were tailored for a religious service, with quotes from scripture, references to the love that binds people to each other, and comments on the essential goodness of humanity. The stories of the storm lead us to "put aside our petty grievances," the president said. "There are heroes all around us, all the time. So, in the wake of this tragedy, let us live up to their example: to make each day count."

Known for his cool, even-tempered demeanor, Obama offered his own brand of comforting: eloquent words, plentiful handshakes, some hugs, pats on the heads of children, offers of "God bless you." Not for him the raw emotion Americans saw in his predecessors George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.

Before the service, Obama's motorcade 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 intact, 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 coming in from other states to help in any way they could.

"This is not just your tragedy," Obama said. "This is a national tragedy, and that means there will be a national response." He said: "We are going to be here long after the cameras leave."

Hours after Obama's speech -- at 5:41 p.m. Central time, to mark the first report of the tornado -- hundreds stood in Joplin's Cunningham Park, in between wrecked cars and twisted poles, for a moment of silence.

Many in the crowd wore white T-shirts emblazoned, "Joplin's Heart Will Sing Again."

"We will rebuild Joplin," City Manager Mark Rohr told the crowd. "You have my word on it."

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, Sunday was about an even more critical connection: his own, with the American people.

Consoling his fellow Americans is a task Obama has had to assume with increasing frequency

of late: after the mass shooting in Arizona in January in which Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was injured; when tornadoes struck Tuscaloosa, Ala., last month; and, more recently, when flooding from the Mississippi inundated parts of Memphis, Tenn.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and local clergy, some of whose churches were ravaged, spoke at the service. Some people said it will help them grieve and move forward with rebuilding.

"You need to talk about it," said Dorothy Iwan, 67, whose granddaughter was caught in the storm but uninjured. "You need to process it. You need to know people are behind you."

FULL TEXT OF OBAMA'S SPEECH BELOW

Thank you, Governor, for that powerful message, but more importantly, for being here with and for your people every step of the way.

We are grateful to you, to Reverend Gariss, Father Monaghan. I’m so glad you got in that tub. (Laughter and applause.) To Reverend Brown for that incredibly powerful message.

To Senator Claire McCaskill, who’s been here, and Congressman Billy Long; Mayor Woolston. To Craig Fugate. It doesn’t get a lot of attention, but he heads up FEMA, our emergency response at the federal level. He’s been going from Tuscaloosa to Joplin and everywhere in between tirelessly doing outstanding work. We’re grateful for him. Gail McGovern, the President of the National Red Cross, which has contributed mightily to the rebuilding efforts here.

Most of all, to the family and friends of all those who’ve been lost and all those who’ve been affected.

Today we gather to celebrate the lives of those we’ve lost to the storms here in Joplin and across the Midwest, to keep in our prayers those still missing, to mourn with their families, to stand together during this time of pain and trial.

And as Reverend Brown alluded to, the question that weighs on us at a time like this is: Why? Why our town? Why our home? Why my son, or husband, or wife, or sister, or friend? Why?

We do not have the capacity to answer. We can’t know when a terrible storm will strike, or where, or the severity of the devastation that it may cause. We can’t know why we’re tested with the loss of a loved one, or the loss of a home where we’ve lived a lifetime.

These things are beyond our power to control. But that does not mean we are powerless in the face of adversity. How we respond when the storm strikes is up to us. How we live in the aftermath of tragedy and heartache, that’s within our control. And it’s in these moments, through our actions, that we often see the glimpse of what makes life worth living in the first place.

In the last week, that’s what Joplin has not just taught Missouri, not just taught America, but has taught the world. I was overseas in the aftermath of the storm, and had world leaders coming up to me saying, let the people of Joplin know we are with them; we’re thinking about them; we love them.

Because the world saw how Joplin responded. A university turned itself into a makeshift hospital. Some of you used your pickup trucks as ambulances, carrying the injured on doors that served as stretchers. Your restaurants have rushed food to people in need. Businesses have filled trucks with donations. You’ve waited in line for hours to donate blood to people you know, but also to people you’ve never met. And in all this, you have lived the words of Scripture:

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed;
we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken;
cast down, but not destroyed;

As the governor said, you have shown the world what it means to love thy neighbor. You’ve banded together. You’ve come to each other’s aid. You’ve demonstrated a simple truth: that amid heartbreak and tragedy, no one is a stranger. Everybody is a brother. Everybody is a sister. We can all love one another.

As you move forward in the days ahead, I know that rebuilding what you’ve lost won’t be easy. I just walked through some of the neighborhoods that have been affected, and you look out at the landscape, and there have to be moments where you just say, where to begin? How to start? There are going to be moments where after the shock has worn off, you feel alone. But there’s no doubt in my mind what the people of this community can do. There’s no doubt in my mind that Joplin will rebuild. And as President, I can promise you your country will be there with you every single step of the way. We will be with you every step of the way. We’re not going anywhere. The cameras may leave. The spotlight may shift. But we will be with you every step of the way until Joplin is restored and this community is back on its feet. We’re not going anywhere.

That is not just my promise; that’s America’s promise. It’s a promise I make here in Joplin; it’s a promise I made down in Tuscaloosa, or in any of the communities that have been hit by these devastating storms over the last few weeks.

Now, there have been countless acts of kindness and selflessness in recent days. We’ve already heard the record of some of that.