WH pushes back at Carville's criticism

WASHINGTON, May 28 (UPI) -- The White House pushed back against Democratic strategist James Carville's diatribe on the U.S. government's handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Senior White House adviser David Axelrod said Carville, a New Orleans resident, may mean well, but hasn't offered suggestions about what can be done to staunch the oil that has been flowing into the gulf for more than a month, The Washington Post reported Friday.

"James has always been a very passionate person, and this is obviously a very emotional issue for him," Axelrod said. "What I haven't heard is exactly what he thinks we should do that we aren't doing. We're just looking for constructive ideas, and we're not turning any away."

Carville accused the administration of being "lackadaisical" in the clean-up effort, saying on ABC's "Good Morning America" Wednesday it appears President Obama is "not involved in this."

White House officials said U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, National Incident Commander for the Deepwater Horizon spill, called Carville last week to discuss the government response but Carville had not called him back. Carville acknowledged getting a call from Allen but said the two were playing phone tag.

"No one doubts James's motivations here -- he is a resident of a great city that is at terrible risk right now," one senior White House official said. "We just wish he would let us help him get his facts right."

The well has been leaking 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil per day since the explosion April 20, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The rig sank two days later. Eleven workers died.