Obama defends response to gulf oil spill

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama dismissed criticism of the federal response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, saying he'll ensure "we get the job done."

The administration has come under criticism from environmentalists and others for its response to the gulf oil crisis, prompting some to characterize the spill as "Obama's Katrina" -- a reference to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast five years ago.

The administration of President George W. Bush was criticized for its response to the Katrina emergency.

"We've got a lot more work to do," Obama said in an interview Sunday with NBC News. "But the fact is because of the sturdiness and swiftness of the response, there's a lot less oil hitting these shores and these beaches than anybody would have anticipated given the volume that was coming out of the BP oil well."

Of the criticism, he said, "We've got to put all that stuff aside and come in and make sure we get the job done."

Obama, interviewed while in New Orleans marking the fifth anniversary of Katrina's landfall, also told NBC News he was confident about his administration's policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he urged patience with the economic recovery.

Acknowledging that recovery has been painful and millions of Americans remain unemployed, Obama said, "What we know is that we are going to have to slowly, steadily build confidence, push more investment out there, target areas like clean energy that we know are going to be growth areas in the future."