an abc news/"washington post" poll shows 69% of americans have a negative view of the government's response to the spill. >> here is what i can say. we have responded with unprecedented resources. >> reporter: on nbc's today show this morning, president obama defended both his administration's actions and his own personal reaction to the spill. >> i was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the gulf. a month ago i was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be. and i don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. we talk to these folks because they potentially had the best answers so i know whose ass to kick, right? you know, this is not theater. >> lehrer: that strong language comes just a day after officials say the slick has broken up into thousands of oily patches. thick oil has enveloped endangered birds in louisiana, tar balls have washed ashore in alabama, and a sheen has dotted the florida coast. and now the head of the national oceanic and

. >> abc news. were getting the cumulative figure of coastline affected, and that you are get -- and now you are going with miles affected. how are you dealing with the impact on the coastline? >> there are a lot of ways to deal with impact on coastline. if you look at the coastline at , that is a morea significant impact and then add the linney link would tell you. ultimately, -- more significant impact than the linear link would tell you. we continue to work on that as it continues to evolve. know how farwe those beaches have been impacted? isn't it important to know what the back has been? > -- what the impact has been? >> it is, and i would be happy to follow up with after this. >> areas are being impacted and one of the criticisms local leaders have is that the federal response has been too busy looking at the big picture and not feeling the immediate sense of emergency. do you happen, -- do you have comments? >> sure. there were directly established 3 to the depositions, one for each state, to

host: abc news with diane sawyer had an interview last night with the author of the "rolling stone" magazine article, michael hastings, end asked the reporter about his questioning to general mcchrystal. >> why did you do this? why did he say these things to you? why did he allow his aides to say these things to you? >> they were frustrated and they wanted to get that message out. the headline to me was that the war wws out of obama's control. by telling the story through general mcchrystal, i think we were able to illustrate hat in pretty telling detail. host: we want to know from yyu this morning, should president obama fire general mcchrystal? he will be meeting with general mcchhystal and defense secretary gates. at 11:30 a.m. eastern time, the president will meet with his national security team on afghanistan and pakistan. "the new york times" says general mcchrystal should be explaining what wrong with his first major offensive, and how he plans to better it in kandahar, and they should all be working to come up with a plan for managing relations with afghanistan. "the wall street jour

host: yesterday john cornyn was on "abc news" talking about energy legislation and the impact in his area of the country. >> we need to be careful. rather than getting a grand slam home run i would rather try to hit some singles and develop nuclear power, battery technology that will help us deal with environmental concerns. let's look to divert more of our demand to natural gas. it is american and much less of an emissions problem and other forms of energy. host: sounds like he is opening a door on some kind of common ground on nuclear energy. guest: i think that the democrats were smart in trying to do something before the election, anything. what they would do is try something gradual. much easier to get the votes they need, particularly in an election year. looking back at the entire agenda of the president, politically it would have been much less polarizing had he not gone big and played small ball. i understand that he and his supporters felt that big things were needed. we might find out that that was exactly what the country needed. but if you want to get something done with

. >> the first comes from abc news. >> in florida, officials held a newssconference at which they expressed concern that there were only informed after the fact. command and control has to be straightened out. what is your response? >> first of all, i have flown over that area. i am very familiar with both the strategy we have a right now and our strategy to make more permanent booming there. our plan right now is to allow vessels to leave when there is less chance of oil coming in. there is not a 100% guarantee that oil will not get through. i do not know the exact details of the report you are talking about. i will be happy to release a statement later on when we look into the details. as i said, i have overflown it myself. there is a fairly robust system in effect. we will look into it and released a statement. again, we have a robust strategy there. >> the next question comes from bloomberg news. >> bp said this morning that theyyplan to flare all of the oil. is that a significant change and did you approve of that change? >> i do not think it is a change. we originally listed the capac

but first i want to get your reaction to abc news has a story about barges that were equipped with vacuums to suck up the oil and that the louisiana governor there was very critical of the plfings because these barges were sitting idle even though they were already to go, all ready to go and help suck up the oil on the surface. do you know the back story on this and does it have to do with the jones act? guest: i don't. and it's puzzling to me why there hasn't been more equipment deployed. there may be contractual reasons, lojistcal reasons. but i can tell you what is not a reason ands that the jones act. there's no limitation. if there's a foreign flag, there's no limitation bei don't know three miles and it literally takes a nano second to say i need this equipment, i need it here, now. bring it in. there's no jones act waiver required. host: what is the status of the u.s. domestic? it's one of the largest in the world efplt we have one of the most capable u.s. fleet in the world, everything from the ability to move iron or coal to limestone to finished products to petroleum products. ho

>> the next question comes from abc news. [unintelligible] >> sorry, we had a bad connection. not sure i understood the question. >> i am just trying to know how soon we will note if the top cap procedure has failed. >> we will know that as soon as we finished the cut of the package, and there is a pause while they deal with the diamond wire saw that it's been at stock partially through the pipe. we will know later on this afternoon. >> your next question comes from dow jones. >> has oil reach the panhandle of florida? >>>we have no reports of oil on the panhandle of florida. we have reports of tarballs and sheening, but that is the extent of the reporting in the last 24 hours. >> your next question comes from august media. >> now that you have made it the sheer cut, does that mean that the flow of oil has increased? if so, how much? >> we do not expect the flow of oil to increase until the second cut is done. there is a potential for a 20% increase once that has been made. the link in the riser pipe is being treated with dispersants. next question? >> fox business. >> thanks

but first i want to get your reaction to abc news has a story quipped rges that were e with vacuums toup theil and that the louisiana governor ery critical of the plfings because these barges were sitting idle even though they were already to go, all ready to go and help suck up the oil on the surface. do you know the back story on this and does it have to do with the jones act? guest: i don't. puzzling to me why there hasn't been more equipment deployed. actual y b con reasons, lojistcal reasons. but i can tell you what is not a reason ands that the jones act. there's no limitation. a foreign flag, there's no limitation bei don't miles and it literally takes a nano second to say i need this equipment, i need it here, now. bring it in. there's no jones act waiver required. of the at is the status u.s. domestic? it's one of the largest in the rld efplt we have one of the most capable u.s. fleet in the world, everything from the ability to move iron or coal to limestone to finished products to petroleum products. host: next pne call comes from north carolina. line.d on the independent ca

host: yesterday john cornyn was on "abc news" talking about energy legislation and the impact in his area of the country. >> we need to be careful. rather than getting a grand slam home run i would rather try to hit some singles and develop nuclear power, battery technology that will help us deal with environmental concerns. let's look to divert more of our demand to natural gas. it is american and much less of an emissions problem and other forms of energy. host: sounds like h is opening a door on some kind of coon ground on nuclear energy. guest: i think that the democrats were smart in trying to do something bere the election, anything. what they would do is try something gradual. much easier to get the votes they need, particularly in an election year. looking back at thentire agenda of the president, politically it would have been much less polarizing had he not gone big and played small ball. i understand that he and his supporters felt that big things were needed. we might find out that that was exactly what the country needed. but if you want to get something done without a l

news." and christine brennan is a sportswriter and columnist for abc and "usa today" who has covered previous cups. david hirshey, let me start with you. these guys play constantly, in continental championships, national championships. they play for professional clubs. they play for the international team. they're always playing. why does the world cup stand head and shoulders above that constant round of championship play ? >> because for four years these players are trying to qualify for the tournament that is the pinnacle of their sport. and it's a grueling campaign that can be will-sapping at times. but it's the shared send of national identity that i think galvanizes the team and makes them run through walls for their countries. >> suarez: christine brennan, more than the uafa cup or the concacaf or all these various kinds of championships that are being played for the rest of the time? >> i think, well, david is right, david knows the sport very well but this is once every four years. so in many ways for viewers who don't watch a lot of soccer t is like the olympics, the winter games, s

but first and use of state -- news update. >> on abc's "this week," they will speak with the coast guardational incident commander. national republican senatorial committee chairman john corning and senate foreign relations committee chairman john kerry. the guests on fox news sunday include an brought allen, mississippi republican governor haley barbour and israel's ambassador to the u.s. on face the nation, you will hear an admiral allen and florida democratic senator bill nelson. on cnn's state of the union, guests include thad allen, charlie crist, and ahead of tuesday's arkansas democratic primary runoff, blanche lincoln and her challenger lieutenant governor bill halter. is pre-meet the press"" empted by sports coverage. you can listen to that on the radio at 90.1 and on the web at cspanradio.org. >> everyone has an agenda. as long as you know what it is, that is the story you can write about. street journal" investigative reporter brody mullins has written a piece on the trips taken by lawmakers oversees a funded by taxpayers. >> david cameron fields questions as head of the coali

abc reported yesterday that roughly 600 people were killed in darfur in may. mr. wolf: a new high since peacekeepers were deployed in debate. additional thousands have fled their homes. against this backdrop internationally war criminal was inaugurated as president of sudan and unbelievably the obama administration sent a u.s. government representative ceremony. add vowcy groups expressed their dismay, it was said, quote, the administration missed an opportunity to lead by example. getting nothing in return for this reversal of long-standing u.s. policy is baffling and ineffective diplomacy. i could not agree more. vice president biden is leading a delegation to africa this week. he would be the highest ranking u.s. official since meeting the suedianese, we can only hope this will mark a new beginning for the administration's long faltering and ineffective sudan polcy. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> permission to address the house for one minute. the spea

finally, the 40-year old son of the former abc anger ted koppel was found dead in a new york city apartment. the cause of death has not yet been determined. now "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome todd tucker, the research director with the global trade watch. our topic is nafta. and also daniel griswold of the cato institute. what impact do you think that nafta will have on the u.s. economy? guest: it has been in effect for 15 years. i think the impact has been positive. more importantly not only on the economy, but on foreign policy. the u.s. is 17 times larger than mexico. low. it has been a foreign policy success with mexico and canada. it has built bonds of friendship. mexico is a different country than 25 years ago. it has a multi-party democracy. they are on the road to modernization. it has been a modest success. host: todd tucker, is it working? guest: agreements of nafta combined with the world trade organization which is global, you can see that the u.s. has said burgeoning trade deficits and a loss of 5000 -- 5 million manufacturing jobs. a significant chunk

abc's "this week," white house correspondent and host jay tapper will speak with c.i.a. director leon panetta. senate judiciary lindsay gram and dianne feinstein talents chair of the senate intelligence economy, on fox news sunday former arkansas governor, mike huckabee. on face the nation on cbs. you'll hear host bob schieffer, and senate judiciary committee patrick leahy and host canny will talk to guests including texas senator john cornyn. he's chair of the senate oirl committee. and chair of the democratic campaign committee. jack reed. democrat frl road island. you can listen to all five of the sunday morning talk shows starting at noon eastern on c-span radio. that's 90.1 f.m. here in washington, d.c. and nationwide on xm satellite channel 132 and live on the web at c-span.org and you can also follow us on facebook and on twitter. >> c-span is now available in over 100 million homes, bringing you a direct link to public affairs, politics, history and non-fiction books all as a public service, created by america's companies. >> of course, the lotry is prescribed by law if demand outpaces supply, you have to do a lottery. >> i really think this is the civil rights issue of today, and it's not just a