Obama says he's finding out 'whose ass to kick' over Gulf disaster
(source: Yahoo News)
Is President Obama bowing to criticism that he hasn't shown enough emotion and outrage about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? In an interview with the Today Show's Matt Lauer this morning, the president offered his most candid response yet about the disaster, bluntly telling Lauer he's been talking to experts about "whose ass to kick" when it comes to responsibility for the mess."I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the gulf. A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be," Obama said, defending his administration's handling of the spill. "And I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar; we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."
Brian Williams gave a preview of the interview last night on Nightly News:
That's a pretty sharp response for a president known for his cool-headed approach to situations. In recent weeks, as Obama was assailed by critics for not being expressive enough in his response to the spill, White House officials defended his reaction by suggesting voters would prefer to see concrete actions over empty "method acting." Yet administration officials are not ignorant of polls showing the nation less than thrilled with Obama's handling of the Gulf. According to the latest ABC/Washington Post poll, more than two-thirds of those polled, 69 percent, disapprove of the federal government's handling of the spill. That's higher than the outrage over the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina.
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