Grand Isle, La. ? Kneeling to pick up tar balls on an oil-fouled beach and listening to “heartbreaking stories” of loss, President Barack Obama personally confronted the spreading damage wrought by the crude gushing into the Gulf of Mexico — and the bitter anger that’s rising onshore.

“What can he really do?” said Billy Ward, a developer who comes to his beach house here every weekend and, like many other locals, had little positive to say about Obama’s trip to the beleaguered region on Friday. “If he wants to do something, let him get out there and pump some mud and cement into that hole. Just fix it. Help us.”

BP PLC, even less popular here, kept up its efforts to “just fix it,” using its “top kill” procedure to try to stop the deep oil well leak by pumping in heavy mud. If it doesn’t work, something BP says will be known within a couple of days, Obama’s own problems will only compound.

He said he understands people “want it made right” and that their frustration won’t fade until the oil is stopped and cleaned up.

“It’s an assault on our shores, on our people, on the regional economy and on communities like this one,” the president said from this small barrier island town threatened by what is now established as the largest oil spill in American history. “People are watching their livelihoods wash up on the beach.”

A BP drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and beginning to send millions of gallons of oil spewing into the water. That oil is now beginning to foul beaches, kill wildlife and cripple the tourism and fishing industries on which this area depends. With the crude still flowing freely, criticism has been increasingly aimed at Obama and his administration.

Amid concern that the environmental and economic disaster could also engulf his presidency, Obama has stepped up his public appearances this week to demonstrate that he is engaged. He held a rare White House news conference on Thursday, focusing almost entirely on the spill. And Friday, he flew to the coast for an inspection tour and meetings that lasted about four hours — his second visit in the 39 days of the crisis.

He noted that all may not go well in such a massive, unprecedented undertaking. Mistakes are possible, Obama said. But a lack of urgency about plugging the leak and restoring the region is not, the president declared.

“There are not going to be silver bullets or a lot of perfect answers for some of the challenges that we face,” he said in front of an incongruously pristine backdrop of sparkling blue water with dolphins, fish and seabirds frequently spotted. “But we’re going to keep at this every day.”

Obama made an unqualified promise to coast residents reminiscent of previous presidents speaking after disasters — such as George W. Bush after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“I’m here to tell you that you are not alone, you will not be abandoned, you will not be left behind,” Obama said. “The media may get tired of the story, but we will not. We will be on your side and we will see this through.”

With more than 20,000 people already working to contain and clean up the oil, the president announced he was tripling the manpower in places where the sticky mess has come ashore or is about to.

Wait and see

BP warned Friday that it could be Sunday or later before the outcome of the cliffhanger becomes clear. And scientists cautioned that few conclusions can be drawn with any certainty from watching the spillcam coverage of the “top kill.” But some said the video seemed to suggest BP was gaining ground.

In an operation that began Wednesday, BP has been pumping heavy drilling mud into the blown-out well in hopes of choking it off and putting an end to what is already the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, at anywhere from 18 million gallons to 40 million by the government’s estimate.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said the denser-than-water mud was able to push down the oil and gas coming up at great force from underground, but it had not overwhelmed the gusher. The trick is to pump the mud with such force that it stops the upward flow of oil, and it’s impossible to know how much mud that will take.

BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said Friday the top kill was going basically as planned, though the pumping has stopped several times.