WASHINGTON -- Determined to project both command and compassion, President Barack Obama is returning to the Louisiana coast for a fresh reality check on work to stanch the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico and the spiraling effects of the nation's worst environmental disaster.

The president underscored his focus on the Gulf by abruptly canceling plans for a trip to Indonesia and Australia later this month.

Addressing a crisis that threatens to undermine his presidency, Obama spoke for many Thursday in declaring himself furious at a situation that "is imperiling an entire way of life and an entire region for potentially years." Friday's trip will be his second to the Gulf in eight days, answering critics in both parties who suggest he has seemed detached from the crisis.

Polls show the public growing more negative toward the president's handling of the spill.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs announced late Thursday that Obama was scrapping his foreign trip -- which already had been postponed -- "to deal with important issues, one of which is the oil spill."