Obama ‘furious’ on oil spill, says BP hasn’t responded rapidly enough

more images

more images

more images

Obama says he’s ‘furious’ about spill

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Thursday he was “furious” about the situation in the Gulf of Mexico and that BP hasn’t moved fast enough to respond to the massive oil spill there.

The president said in an interview for broadcast on CNN’s “Larry King Live” that BP has felt his anger — although he said “venting and yelling at people” won’t solve the problem.

Using his strongest language to date on the spill, Obama said: “I am furious at this entire situation because this is an example where somebody didn’t think through the consequences of their actions.”

Obama had not previously voiced such sweeping criticisms of BP. But Thursday the president said he hadn’t seen the kind of “rapid response” from BP that he’d like.

Obama is returning to the Gulf on Friday for his third trip since the spill that began when a BP-leased drilling rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and releasing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf. He said BP caused the ongoing spill and had to pay, but the federal government has the responsibility for making sure recovery and mitigation efforts were proceeding and local fishermen and businesses were getting hired and paid properly.

“All those efforts are ones where we can do it better,” the president said.