fishermen, some of whom the president met with yesterday. >> i don't want to sugarcoat this thing. this is a big mess. >> reporter: it's a mess spreading throughout the gulf, even as the white house tries to keep questions about its response at bay. >> the administration responded with all hands on deck from day one. >> we are prepared for the worst case scenario and we have been doing it since day one. >> a possible catastrophic failure from day one. >> the president directed from day one we spare nothing at all in terms of the effort. >> reporter: administration officials used "day one" more than a dozen times yesterday, a c chorus critic said showed seep- deep seeded criticism. the white house credits the coast guard with the immediate search rescue and response to the april 20 explosion on t the deepwater horizon rig and they say that resources were deployed before janet napolitano said