President Visits More States Before National Address, BP Meeting

June 14, 2010 -- President Obama struck a cautiously optimistic tone today on the future of the Gulf Coast after surveying oil cleanup efforts in Theodore, Alabama, but warned the business owners and residents will have to be patient.

"It's going to take time for things to return to normal. There's going to be a harmful effect on many local businesses, and it's going to be painful for a lot of folks. Folks are going to be frustrated, and some folks are going to be angry," he said.

"But I promise you this, that things are going to return to normal. This region that's known a lot of hardship will bounce back, just like it's bounced back before."

Obama promised the full resources of the federal government to "make sure that communities get back on their feet" and said he was confident that the Gulf Coast would wind up "in better shape than it was before."

Earlier today the president met with the governors of Louisiana and Mississippi as well as several local residents to get "an absolutely clear understanding" of the economic damage from the oil spill that he will ask BP to help alleviate during a meeting at the White House later this week.

Obama's trip to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida -- three affected states not included in his three previous visits -- comes one day before he will address the nation on the Gulf of Mexico disaster in a televised appearance from the Oval Office.

"We're gathering up facts, stories right now so that we have an absolutely clear understanding about how we can best present to BP the need to make sure that individuals and businesses are dealt with in a fair manner and in a prompt manner," he said at a Coast Guard station in Gulfport, Miss.

Obama assured the business owners that the federal government is "in this for the long haul" but cautioned that how long that will actually be is unknown.

"The full effects of this may not be known immediately," he said of the oil spill that has been leaking for nearly two months. "They may not be known three months from now and may not be fully known for another six months or a year."

Tuesday's address will be Obama's first from the Oval Office, demonstrating the gravity of the Gulf coast crisis and the perils the crisis poses for his presidency.