CEDAR RAPIDS - Senator Barack Obama made a stop in Cedar Rapids, talking about the flooding to a packed house.

The democratic presidential candidate was originally supposed to visit the area in June. He says he canceled that trip because it was during the height of the flooding.

Obama started his day by visiting with a handful of flood victims. Iowa Governor Chet Culver was at the meeting too.

Culver said he's frustrated with the Federal Government, and that the state still doesn't know how much financial help it should expect.

He said the Federal response was immediate during the emergency, but not-so immediate during the recovery.

"If we have to get permission to send out those troops, people would have died. This is no different, we cannot have the bureaucratic delays at any level," said Culver.

Culver said the faster the state gets federal money, the faster Iowans can make decisions about the future.

In a one-on-one interview, TV9 asked Obama how he would speed up the response if he were president.

Obama started by criticizing President Bush.

"Had he been talking about this non-stop for the last couple of weeks, I suspect a lot of pressure would have built to get something done. The power of the president isn't always on passing legislation, it's also on shining a spotlight on a problem to make sure it's dealt with."

Now that Obama knows it's a problem, we'll see if he chooses to do something if he's elected.

Meanwhile, Obama has made several trips to Cedar Rapids since starting down the campaign trail.

"When I was watching the floods happen, I felt that was my community, my neighborhoods. That's why I made sure my office is working closely with Senator Harkin's office and Senator Grassley's office to accelerate and put on a fast track the assistance this needed from the federal government," said Obama.

TV9 asked him if he had a connection to the town to make this a frequent stop, and his first stop along the trail.

"It must have been destiny. Because I hadn't visited Cedar Rapids before, but I've grown really attached to it ever since," said Obama.

Email Justin Foss at Justin.Foss@kcrg.com