Gulf Coast reacts to President’s Oval Office address

President Obama delivered his first prime time address from the Oval Office Tuesday evening, nearly 60 days after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico, leaving an oil well gushing crude into the ocean. Thousands of Gulf-related jobs have been affected, including fisherman, restaurants and overall tourism in the region. An Associated Press poll shows 52 percent of Americans disapprove of the President’s handling of the crisis.

For reactions to the President’s speech from the Gulf coast, we speak to Frances Coleman, editor of the Mobile Press in Alabama. She says she supports the president’s pledge to restore the Gulf not just from this oil spill, but also from Hurricane Katrina and past environmental disasters. She also says that she hopes that his speech wasn’t just a way for him to promote “cap and trade” and clean energy. Tim Kant, mayor of Fairhope, Alabama, agrees that the focus on clean energy was not a necessary component of last night’s speech, saying it complicates the issue of solving this oil crisis.