but to the shrimpers, oystermen, boat captains, restaurant and hotel owners and their employees, all of whose lives and livelihoods have been completely upended, he is seen as a penny-pinching scrooge when they wanted beneficent santa claus. >> we had katrina. we had a down economy. now we got the spill. you can't tell me one person that has not suffered. why don't you open up the purse strings? >> here's my answer. [applause] don't trust my words. my words--you've heard a lot of talk. let's just see, over the next few weeks and months, have i delivered on my promise to help people in mississippi? >> ever since the deepwater horizon blew, it was clear that this was a disaster in the making. the fishing industry came to a stop. tourism was wrecked. the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands, anyone who was dependent on these waters, were in deep jeopardy. under pressure from the federal government, bp agreed to create a victims compensation fund. both bp and the white house wanted one man, ken feinberg, to administer it. >> i felt that if asked, i should step up and try and help as best