WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, seeking to show command of a crisis that has exasperated the nation, will head back to Louisiana on Friday to review efforts to stop the disastrous Gulf oil spill.
The White House announced Obama’s trip but did not yet release details of exactly where he will go. The president will be in Louisiana for the day on Friday, flying there from Chicago, where he will be spending the long holiday weekend, and returning there at night.
The trip comes as Obama’s administration is under mounting fire over how well it is overseeing a complex fix-it effort.
Millions of gallons of oil are still gushing into the Gulf following an oil rig explosion on April 20.
The administration’s stand is that oil giant BP LLC is the legally responsible party but that the government is aggressively overseeing the company’s efforts to plug the leaking oil well and working to mitigate the impact of the spill.