Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama will visit the Gulf states affected by the oil spill on Monday and Tuesday and then address the nation on Tuesday night from the White House on the next steps in responding to the environmental catastrophe, his senior adviser said Sunday.
On his fourth visit to the Gulf region since the disaster began on April 20, Obama will make stops in Theodore, Alabama; Gulfport, Mississippi, and Pensacola, Florida, according to senior administration officials.
After returning from the two-day trip, Obama will make a televised statement from the Oval Office on the night before he is scheduled to meet with top BP officials.
David Axelrod, the senior adviser to Obama, said the president would push BP to create a BP-funded escrow account that will pay for damage claims from the worsening oil spill. In addition, Axelrod said, the plan would call for an independent third party to handle the claims process.
"The president will use every legal device at his disposal to make sure that this money is escrowed and that there is an independent administrator so that claims are not slow-walked, people can get the relief they need in a timely fashion and that we don't create more victims from this terrible disaster," Axelrod told reporters.
Asked if Obama had legal authority to force BP to create the escrow fund, Axelrod said: "The advice is that we have the authority to compel such an escrow fund if it comes to that."
Axelrod noted that BP had "legal responsibilities to its investors but they also have a moral and legal responsibility to the people in the Gulf, and they need to satisfy that."
Updated: 4:55 p.m.
From CNN Politics
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
He needs to get a grip on this and he has failed. I am disappointed in the man I strongly supported for president!
It's about time. I remember a time at the beginning of his Presidency that he addressed the nation once a week just to listen to himself speak. I also remember Bush getting slammed over Katrina for not responding in 24 hours. Obama should have been on this a LONG time ago.
what a joke... this is nothing more than a desprite attempt by this president at damage control for his inactions! He doesn't have a clue and doesn't do anything that isn't driven by the polls. What a joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
don't mess with mother nature– will get much worse before it gets better –if it ever gets better–this is what happens when there is no regulation- this is what happens when Big Oil runs the show–Murphy's Law is in progress here–watch in fear its going to be that bad
Visiting the Gulf states affected by this catastrophe doesn't do anything! Come on already...how many times do you have to 'visit' before you see what irreversible damage has already occurred? You can fly their on your private jet and look at the coast all you want....this is the end of things as we know.
Do you think the B P Exec's and their Republican Lobbyist are sitting on the deck, of their Ocean View High-rise, saying “Oh Dear what a shame, Lovee will you get me another Olive for my Martini".
G. O. P. = GREED, OIL, POWER
Remember "Oil Prices" are about Corruption and Greed, not Supply and Demand.
Remember Folks, It was the Republican Lobbyist under the Bush Administration that helped dilute the laws, liability, and regulations for the Oil Industry. B P is just like any other corporation. They will do the legal minimum on all issues regarding this disaster.
He's just gonna blame EVERYBODY else. BP's fault (despite his administration awarding safty awards to the same rig that is now underwater), Bushes' fault, Republicans fault, the American peoples fault for being too dependant on oil. Yadda yadda yadda. Time for this loser to RESIGN !!!!!!
Sounds like more blame for everyone but him, higher taxes, less drilling, higher gas prices just so he can pay for more of his failed policies. For the millions that voted for him Hillary would have been a better choice
Talking again... he is good at it, but the spill is Obama's 3:00 AM call moment that he did not pass. Lack of executive real life experience and excess of professorial rhetorics shows up! This is an administration of campaign experts who stopped being useful once elected!
By now yet another address to the nation will be followed by the right dose of skepticism!
Finally!
I'm sorry but BP and friends are idiots. After 50 plus days they still can't stop the leak, it is unbelievable. We can send men into space but British Petroleum doesn't have a clue how to stop this or they aren't interested in using their money for the fix that will stop this. Trust me they are going to go out of business and the us citizens are going to foot the bill.
Obama needs to throw down the gauntlet even if that means bad British / USA ties, anything else is unexceptable.
That's great... the kind of concern he should have been showing from the beginning
Useless president to talk to useless nation about problem he says he can't and won't solve. More useless talk to come in the next few months.
If he tries to blame it on "the previous administration" I'm going to puke.
What are BP and the US Govt going to do to help 'make whole' the people that have homes along the coast who have just seen their dream / biggest asset go down the tubes? I am heart broken that my home and hard earned dream has been crushed by the haste and greed of BP.
I will be watching the President for whom I voted. The Presidential candidate the heralded change and a new government that would be "for the people."
After losing everything in Katrina and now a victim of the oil industrys'greed, I will watch and cry tears from feelings of being abandoned twice by our government.
What happened to this country that potrays itself as a model for all countries.
As an Open Heart ICU nurse , who works to change and save lives daily, (I MUST WORK EVERDAY TO STILL TRY TO RECOVER FROM KATRINA) who will save me? I feel my cries have gone unheard for 5 years. Why is there no reality show that depicts how we on the Gulf Coast try to recover. As for me, the last five years have been my husband and I living in different states, working, earning the dollars we need to rebuild the retirement and investments that we used to rebuild in a city unlike no other in the United States. I don't know that we will make it this time. Things are just that bleak.
You can't blame this President for this mess. You have to look at the history of this industry and others that are now a plague on our nation! He alone, plus did not help that we were all LIED to by British BP! And probably still are! As a resident of Florida, it just amazes me about the discussion regarding our President. He alone, can't fix this problem, nor can we as a nation. BP has the info, the equipment and the people. It is their problem and they must fix it, but in order to fix it, they have to realize what this is doing, not just turning their heads. History repeats itself, this is not the first time BP and many other large oil companies have screwed up!
Well, it's about time. He should be addressing the nation in prime time every week.
This is a National Emergency. We should have had all the resources of our government mobilized as soon as we knew how bad the situation was. Of course we are only now finding out how much oil is going into the Gulf because BP has been lying from the start.
The fact that BP is giving orders to the Coast Guard, as we have seen as the media tried to cover the story, just shows the arrogance of this company. My grandchildren will be unable to eat seafood from the Gulf.
The economy of the Gulf States are going to be ruined. The seafood industry, the tourist industry, the gaming industry are all going down the tubes. The ripple effects are going to cripple all the states on the Gulf.
So speak to the nation, Mr. President. But more importantly, get the resources to the people who need it. Katrina was bad. This is thousands of times worse.
Way too much show and no go out of this President. Hillary in 2012!
President Obama:
We are disappointed in your response to the oil disaster and we want you to get in there and quit wasting time trying to find out whose "a** to kick" [your words]. Just start kicking everybody's a** in BP and TransOcean and we're sure you will hit the mark every time. Just Do It!!!!
It's been long overdue....
Wow what are we 60+ days into this mess and Obama is finally going to do and say something? What a shame. He is no leader at all. He needs to get help there fast.
He should address the nation when the problem is solved, not to give us more excuses and to place more blame.
Obama and all the other "Puff and Blow" useless politicians in Washington can visit the Gulf states all they want but the result will still be inaction and an inadequate response to stopping the oil flow, protection of US lands and cleanup of this mess. Why? ....... because government is in bed with the oil industry, politicians get their pockets padded nicely from the same and BP's priorities are to it's shareholders. Stop wasting our time with your useless rhetoric and DO SOMETHING!
Forget Hollywood ideas from James Cameron and Kevin Costner.
We need some geeky, nerdy engineering managers IN CHARGE. People whose DNA is inherently fact based, science driven, skeptical of flowery statements and hand waving. People that develop SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS ... that's what engineers do.
I'm sorry Mr. President, lawyers don't get to be the ones in charge with the engineers working for them. It's the other way around now. Lawyers DON"T solve problems. They simply push paper around.
As the Japanese say "FIX THE PROBLEM ... NOT THE BLAME".