Barack Obama, the US president, vowed to make BP pay for, what he called, its recklessness.

It is more than eight weeks since a BP oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, and millions of gallons of oil have been spewing into the sea.

Obama said BP will have to bear the brunt for the massive damage it has caused to the environment, people and businesses.

The US president used strong words in his speech on Tuesday but many Americans are not convinced that Obama is handling the crisis in the right way.

That comes as he is pushing for a new legislation on energy.
 
Is he using the crisis for political purposes? And is he handling the crisis correctly?

Inside Story, with presenter Hoda Abdelhamid, discusses with Toby Chaudhuri, a Democrat strategist and former deputy press secretary for vice president Al Gore, Kate Sheppard, an environmental reporter and blogger who is following this oil spill very closely, and Mark Guarino, a journalist at the Christian Science Monitor.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Wednesday, June 16, 2010.