To prove once and for all that he’s closely engaged in the oil-spill situation, President Obama will personally venture down to Louisiana today for the second time to get a face-to-face briefing from Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen and to watch the beach cleaners as they scrub the shores. Obama will give a statement to the press, and then about three hours after arriving he’ll board his plane and head back to Chicago, at which point there will be no question that Obama “sufficiently cares” about the crisis. Meanwhile, in news of things that will actually make some kind of a difference, the “top kill” procedure is still plodding along, seemingly with success. But it might be another 48 hours until BP knows if it worked for sure, and the next twelve to eighteen hours are “critical.”
Obama to see tough job of cleaning oily beaches [AP via Google]
U.S. official says Gulf oil spill flow has stopped [MSNBC]
