Obama: Tell Me Whose 'Ass to Kick'

Watch out, BP. In an effort to silence pundits who accused him of not being forceful enough in his response to the Gulf oil spill, President Obama has told NBC's Today that he ventured down to the Gulf in search of "whose ass to kick." Obama staunchly defended the administration's handling of the disaster in the segment, set to air Tuesday morning, and he insisted that his meeting with experts was not out of an academic interest in the debacle: "I don't sit around talking to experts because this is a college seminar," he fired back at critics. "We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick." Obama stressed that since the oil leak first began, he has been all-in: "I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf... A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be."