. . .New York Times reporter Jackie Calmes was skeptical: “Can you be sure these oil tar balls are from the oil spill? Because when I used to swim on the Gulf in Texas, I’d get tar balls in my bathing suit all the time.”

Allen and Randolph, the parish president, confirmed that tar balls do wash up at other times, though these, they said, were likely from the spill.

But the president was distracted. “At some point, Jackie, we’ll want to hear more about those tar balls and your bathing suit,” Obama said, as reporters laughed.