ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, June 15 (UPI) -- A spokesman for President Barack Obama said Tuesday there was no word on whether the first family might wiggle their toes in a Gulf Coast beach this summer.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, said despite the ongoing leak of millions of gallons of crude into the gulf as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, "right now, a lot of these beaches are great to visit."
"The president encourages you to do that," Burton said.
That prompted a question about whether Obama might take his family to a Gulf Coast beach for a vacation this summer rather than heading to Martha's Vineyard on the northern Atlantic Coast.
"For starters, we haven't locked in any summer plans for the president," Burton replied. "And so I would just say -- I guess the premise of your question can't even be answered."
Asked about a time frame for accomplishing Obama's stated goal of restoring the gulf to better than pre-disaster quality, Burton said that is "going to take some time."
"I would point you to what the president said ... at the event on the beach in Pensacola, where he talked about the fact that if we work hard and if we stop as much oil as we can from reaching the shores, clean up the oil that gets here, and help to stem some of that -- some of the problems associated with that, then even as soon as next year some of these beaches will be fine," Burton said.
