Govt. wasnt trained for this

A Coast Guard official said that the BP spill has broken up into something the government had not trained for: numerous tiny spills, which are still outflanking cleanup crews across hundreds of miles of coastline.
President Obama said yesterday he's been talking closely to Gulf Coast fishermen and various experts on BP's catastrophic oil spill not for lofty academic reasons but "so I know whose ass to kick."

The salty words, part of Mr. Obama's recent efforts to telegraph to Americans his engagement with the crisis, came in an interview in Michigan with NBC's Today show.
He strongly defended his role in dealing with the crisis that began with the April 20 explosion on a BP-leased oil rig in the Gulf, killing 11 workers and starting the nation's largest-ever oil spill.
"I was down there a month ago before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the gulf," he told NBC's Matt Lauer. "I was meeting with fishermen in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be."
NBC aired a portion of the interview yesterday evening in advance of today's Today program.
Some have criticized the President for not engaging passionately enough on the spill.
Earlier yesterday, he sought to reassure the nation that the Gulf Coast would "bounce back" from the worst oil spill in the nation's history, but not without time, effort, and reimbursement from BP.
Surrounded by Cabinet members, he said that not only is he confident the crisis will pass but also that the affected area "comes back even stronger than ever."
He and top federal officials were briefed on the government's battle against the spill by Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is overseeing the government's efforts in dealing with the tragedy.