President Barack Obama would have already fired BP CEO Tony Hayward if it were up to him.
Critics have called for Hayward to be canned following a string of insensitive and clumsy comments.
"The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume," Hayward was quoted as saying. Hayward also said that he was tired of presiding over the spill and he wanted his life back.
"Family members of those 11 people who died on the rig and the people whose lives are going to be changed for years want their lives back, too. He doesn't work for you. But if he did, would you want him out?" NBC's Matt Lauer asked the president in an interview that aired Tuesday.
"He wouldn't be working for me after any of those statements," Obama replied.
The Commander in Chief responded to criticism that he had done little more than talk about repairing the damage done to the environment by saying that he had sought the opinions of Gulf residents and experts so "I know whose ass to kick."
"I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answer so I know whose ass to kick," Obama told Lauer.
