Obama’s Escambia Tour

June 15, 2010

President Barack Obama arrived on Pensacola Beach this morning as a crowd chanted “Save our beach!” before heading to address the military at Pensacola Naval Air Station.

“This city and this region will recover and it will thrive again,” Obama said in a speech at Pensacola Naval Air Station.. “Our nation will endure from these trials stronger than before.”

Obama promised that the unprecedented national disaster will continue to be met with an unprecedented federal response, including from the military. Click here to read the full speech.

Obama walked Pensacola Beach prior to the speech with Gov. Charlie Crist, and met with Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen. There was no sign of oil as Crist and Obama stood near the water’s edge. Click here to read Obama’s full beach remarks.

Along the motorcade’s route, Obama passed a variety of signs, ranging from “Obama Rocks” and “Thanks for your support Mr. President” to “Kick Tony’s ass for us”, “Save our bay” and “Day 55 no skimmers”.

As oil plumes threaten Escambia County’s shoreline, President Barack Obama spent Monday night in Pensacola in preparation for a tour of Pensacola Beach and a national address tonight from the Oval Office in which he is expected to ask BP to set aside billions in cash to pay for future cleanup efforts.

Facing mounting pressure following weeks of frustratingly slow results, Obama is expected to turn up the heat on the oil drilling giant to set up an escrow account to make it easier for business and individuals to collect for damages brought on by the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Obama began a three-state tour Monday in Mississippi (click here for story), the first leg of a trip that also included Mobile and Baldwin counties, to bolster his presence over a disaster that threatens Florida’s coastal environmental and $60 billion a year tourism industry

The visit may be welcome by those who say the president hasn’t been engaged enough in the disaster, but it was a nightmare for morning commuters with several major roadways closed.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Sink rival for governor, is meeting Tuesday afternoon at the Capitol with former attorneys general Jim Smith and Bob Butterworth, who are leading a group looking into the state’s legal options as it considers filing suit against the oil company to pay claims. The meeting begins at 2 p.m. EDT.

LeMieux and several other Republicans are pressing Obama to waive portions of the Jones Act, a federal law that sets maritime rules for shipping within U.S. waters, to make it easier for internationally flagged skimmer ships to begin work in the Gulf.

“We need as much help as we can get in cleaning up the Gulf,” LeMieux said. “There is no reason why every single skimmer vessel should not be heading to the Gulf to skim the oil. Preventing the oil from washing ashore and creating even more damage is what we need to be focused on in the next few weeks.”

Also Monday, Lawton “Bud” Chiles, son of the late governor and himself a no-party gubernatorial candidate, is calling on BP to pay a “bounty” to citizens who recover oil and tar balls on the beaches and in the Gulf.

Chiles said a per-gallon or per-pound cash incentive would give thousands of citizens an opportunity and an incentive to participate in the clean-up efforts.

Florida remains on a heightened emergency response alert as it waits for probable landfall of a large plume of weathered oil that now sits ominously close to Florida’s Panhandle.

Scientists have estimated that between 40 million and 100 million gallons of oil have been released into the Gulf since the BP-operated drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers.

Earlier Monday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission closed a 23-mile stretch of coastline from Pensacola Beach water tower to the Alabama state line to fishing. The ban extends nine miles into the Gulf.

Pictured top: President Barack Obama talks with workers at an oil containment boom repair facility as he tours the Theodore Staging Facility in Theodore, Ala. on Monday. Pictured inset: President Barack Obama, third from left, rides a ferry from Dauphin Island, Ala., to Fort Morgan, Ala., past a natural gas rig, as he visits the Gulf Coast region affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Monday. From left, National Incident Commander Adm. Thad Allen, Mayor of Dauphin Island, Al., Jeff Collier; President Obama, Mayor of Gulf Shores, Al., Robert Craft, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley; and Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett. White House photos by Chuck Kennedy for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

News Service Florida contributed to this report.

Comments

10 Responses to “Obama’s Escambia Tour”

  1. anydaynow on June 15th, 2010 9:43 pm

    O.K., I found this, but it doesn’t sound anything like “were not allowed by our government to come to our rescue”.

    May 27, 2010 10:56 AM

    Martinez ABC News’ Luis Martinez reports:

    As desperate efforts continue to stop the oil spewing from beneath the ocean floor into the Gulf of Mexico, 17 countries have offered to help in some way or another, but for now BP and officials coordinating the clean-up effort have accepted assistance from only two of those countries, Mexico and Norway.

    Read more…

  2. traci on June 15th, 2010 9:06 pm

    drill baby drill

  3. hummdinger on June 15th, 2010 5:55 pm

    anydaynow The news reported that something like 12 countries offered to help with skimming the oil (just after the rig explosion) and BP turned them down.

  4. just peachy on June 15th, 2010 3:14 pm

    Why is he walking along clean beaches? Why doesn’t he walk along the tar and oil laden beaches? Nice Job cleaning it up for the President’s visit. He needs to see the REAL MESS. Better yet, he needs to touch the stuff. This was a waste of time and tax dollars.

  5. anydaynow on June 15th, 2010 12:30 pm

    RSB-where did you find that information?

  6. mom~0f~2~beautifulgirls on June 15th, 2010 12:01 pm

    why did this man FINALLY decide 2 come all the way out here?? there was no reason 4 it,he doesn’t give 2 craps less about this world,he’s just happy he’s been elected 2 sit on his butt and enjoy the free crap that goes with it…meanwhile us tax payers….(hard workers) are working our tails off and missing our family,etc like he cares….geesh….i can’t wait 4 him to be voted out by some one else that actually will and can do something for this economy!!! (sorry if i offended anyone)

  7. Are you serious on June 15th, 2010 11:30 am

    RSB, I agree, The many other countries that jumped onboard to help right in the beginning knew how serious this is. If they had been allowed to come, we probably wouldn’t be having tarballs wash up on our beaches and slicks so close to shore. This visit was a giant (and VERY expensive) photo op as far as I’m concerned.

  8. Just An Old Soldier on June 15th, 2010 10:39 am

    “Words, just words!” – how those “words” come back to haunt…how did this charlatan ever get into elected office is beyond me.

    0bama – WORST President EVER! (Sorry Jimmy Peanut, you’re Number Two, but then you always were…)

  9. RSB on June 15th, 2010 10:34 am

    The real tragedy is that international skimmer ships that offerend to help from the beginning of the “oil well blow out” were not allowed by our Government to come to our rescue. Other countries put far more emphasis and value on preserving their oceans and overall environment. Therefore, from what I understand, their oil skimmers are more advanced than ours and might have been able to prevent the misery we now face.
    PS: I like Bud Chiles’ suggestion to let people participate in the clean-up. I walked down the beach of the National Seashore on Perdido Key last Saturday. Among other oil covered items my grandson stumbled on a plastic truck (child’s toy). I waved down two BP workers that rode by us on a golf cart – (they stay above the water line with their vehicles) and was totally ignored. We then picked up the truck (had plastic gloves on!) and carried it to one of the numerous tents where 4 or more BP employees sit and wait. We were told not to touch anything contaminated with oil. What a joke!!! The golf carts carry garbage bags – but they won’t stop to pick stuff up.

  10. Bill2 on June 15th, 2010 9:24 am

    Maybe he’ll make a speech and it’ll all go away

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News