Video: Obama: Criticism of spill response ‘not accurate’

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2. Transcript of: Obama: Criticism of spill response ‘not accurate’

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   WILLIAMS: here today to help mark this anniversary. He arrived here this afternoon with his family, flying direct from their vacation on Martha's Vineyard . Speaking at Xavier University , the president celebrated the resilience of the people of this region. And a short time ago, during this rainy afternoon here in New Orleans , he sat down with us for an exclusive interview. Just a block from here, you may not have known it, you drove by houses with holes still in the roof where there had been live rescues.

   President BARACK OBAMA: That's right .

   WILLIAMS: There are still FEMA markings in spray paint, and yet New Orleans is like this. This is a symbol of recovery.

   Pres. OBAMA: Right.

   WILLIAMS: Katrina was about so many things. It was about class and race and government and the environment.

   Pres. OBAMA: Right.

   WILLIAMS: What ever happened to that national conversation we were supposed to have about it?

   Pres. OBAMA: Well, I think that we're still having it. I don't think that conversation happens in one instance. I think that there's a constant evolving debate about what are our obligations to each other, how do we make sure that, in moments of devastation, that we are looking out for one another. How does government organize itself, or through the federal level interacting with state and local officials. How do we make sure that folks who are already vulnerable before a catastrophe hits aren't made worse off as a consequence of it. And what you've seen in, I think, in New Orleans , is steady progress, but, you know, we've still got a long way to go . And part of the reason that I wanted to come down here today to mark the fifth anniversary was just to send a message to the people of New Orleans , but also the entire Gulf Coast , that they've, you know, gotten hit pretty good over the last several years, and all of America , not just people here, not just folks in the White House , but all of America remains concerned and remains committed to their rebuilding.

   WILLIAMS: This was, of course, New Orleans ' Katrina and Mississippi 's Katrina ; and you're familiar now that it's getting baked in a little bit in the media that BP was President Obama 's Katrina . And it's also getting baked in that the administration was slow off the mark. Is that unfair?

   Pres. OBAMA: Well, it's just not accurate. If you take a look at our response, the only thing in common we had with the Katrina response was Thad Allen , who came in and helped to organize rescue efforts. And he did so under Katrina , he did so for us. But if you look, we had immediately thousands of vessels, tens of thousands of people who are here, and what we're seeing now is that we've got a lot more work to do. 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've anticipated, given the volume that was coming out of the BP oil well.

   WILLIAMS: Let's talk about another topic that's part of the firmament here and everywhere, and that's the economy .

   Pres. OBAMA: Hm.

   WILLIAMS: The New York Times said this weekend, President Obama has another new plan on the economy , now would be a good time to find out about it.

   Pres. OBAMA: Hm.

   WILLIAMS: Do you have anything new on the economy ?

   Pres. OBAMA: Right.

   WILLIAMS: While you've been away, we had a horrible GDP number last month.

   Pres. OBAMA: Well, look, we anticipated that the recovery was slowing. The economy is still growing, but it's not growing as fast as it needs to. I've got things right now in -- before Congress that we should move immediately, and I've said so before I went on vacation and I'll keep on saying it when I -- now that I'm back. We should be passing legislation that helps small businesses get credit, that eliminates capital gains taxes so that they have more incentive to invest right now. There are a whole host of measures that we could take, no single element of which is a magic bullet, but cumulatively could start continuing to build momentum for the recovery.

   WILLIAMS: Mr. President, you're an American-born Christian .

   Pres. OBAMA: Mm-hmm.

   WILLIAMS: And yet increasing and now significant numbers of Americans in polls, upwards of a fifth of respondents, are claiming you are neither. A fifth of the people, just about, believe you're a Muslim. This...

   Pres. OBAMA: Keep in mind those two things, American-born and Muslim are not the same, so.

   WILLIAMS: But...

   Pres. OBAMA: But I understand your point.

   WILLIAMS: Either or the latter...

   Pres. OBAMA: Right.

   WILLIAMS: ...and that most recent number is the latter, this has to be troubling to you. This is, of course, all new territory for an American president .

   Pres. OBAMA: Well, look, the facts are the facts, right? And so we went through some of this during the campaign. You know, there is a mechanism, a network of misinformation that, in a new media era, can get churned out there constantly. We dealt with this when I was first running for the US Senate . We dealt with it when we were first running for the presidency. There were those who said I couldn't win as US senator because I had a funny name, and yet we ended up winning that Senate seat in Illinois because I trusted in the American people 's capacity to get beyond all this nonsense, and so I will always put my money on the American people , and I'm not going to be worrying too much about whatever rumors are floating on -- out there. If I spent all my time chasing after that, then I wouldn't get much done.

   WILLIAMS: Even a number as sizable as this? What does it say to you? Does it say anything about your communications or the effectiveness of your opponents to...

   Pres. OBAMA: Well, look, Brian , I would say that I can't spend all my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead. It is what -- the facts are the facts, and so it's not something that I can, I think, spend all my time worrying about and I don't think the American people want me to spend all my time with that.

   WILLIAMS: Part of our conversation with the president late today. We'll have more here tomorrow night on the broadcast. We've also posted the entire interview on

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