The One declares he will not desert them, leaves

He gets 15 minutes of instruction about the tarball problem and then lectures everyone on camera. Committed to his photo op, he spent 3 hours flying back and forth from Chicago to La.,  poseuring awkwardly on the beach in his mucklucks for the cameras, fondles a tarball for a minute, throws it down and gets back on the plane. Ugh.

The following is a timeline of President Obama's tour in the Gulf coast Friday:

9:15 a.m. ET: Obama leaves Chicago. :

11:10 a.m.: Air Force One lands in New Orleans.

Noon: Obama arrives at Fourchon Beach, La., with Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen and LaFourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph. The president inspects the shoreline, picking up small balls of tar that have washed up. 

12:40 p.m.: Obama leaves the beach en route to a Coast Guard station. 

12:57 p.m.: Obama and Allen speak briefly to pool cameras about the cleanup. The president afterward attends a briefing with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and other officials. 

2:56 p.m.: Obama addresses the media. The president says "the buck stops with me" and announces that he is ordering more workers to coastlines where oil is coming ashore.

3:33 p.m.: Obama boards Air Force One and departs for Chicago.