Oil slick reaches Florida as Obama lashes out at BP
The terrible oil slick reached the pristine Florida peninsula beaches Friday and President Obama finally took off the gloves and lashed out at British Petroleum. The BP catastrophe arrived with the tide on the Florida Panhandle's white sands as the company worked to adjust a cap over the gusher in a desperate and untested bid to arrest what is already the biggest oil spill in American history.
Swimmers at Pensacola Beach rushed out of the water after wading into the mess, while other beachgoers inspected the clumps with fascination, some taking pictures. Children were seen playing with the globs as if they were Play-Doh.
Yet in unleashing his most fiery words yet about BP, Obama underscored his awkward situation: To fix the problem, he is reliant on the same people whose motives he now questions. The government is not equipped to handle the tricky, deepwater effort BP is leading to fix its gushing well.
President Obama's third trek to the Gulf of Mexico was about the workers with no government titles, the shrimpers and the shopkeepers, the fishermen whose lives have been upended and are running out of people to blame.
"I don't want somebody else bearing the costs of those risks that they took," Obama said. "I want to make sure that they're paying for it. I don't want them nickel-and-diming people down here."
Obama later talked with other Grand Isle residents gathered near the bait shop, on the shore near some shrimp boats, promising them: "We're not going to forget that this is a way of life. Even when I'm not here, I'm thinking about you," Obama said.
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One year on, oil from the largest spill in US history clogs wetlands, pollutes the ocean and endangers wildlife.