In an interview with NBC, President Obama sets the record straight with respect to his administration’s much-criticized handling of the oil-spill crisis. Far from flailing in his response to the environmental disaster, Obama has been way ahead of the curve all along. As early as a month ago, he assures us, he was facing the elements down in the Gulf, gaining first-hand intelligence from local fishermen on “whose a** to kick.”

The nation should rejoice in being led by such a diligent a**-kicker in chief in this time of crisis. The latest Punic mission has been to stop offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Slope of Alaska for at least another six months, halt already-planned exploratory deep-sea-drilling operations, and cancel lease sales in the Gulf. Subjected to such measures — as proactive as would be the crippling of the airline industry in response to a plane crash — the guilty a**es are indeed sore already. Which is warm comfort for the administration’s repeated failures to stop the spill or contain its spread along the coast.