I dislike Obama but I have to credit him with this. I was living on the Alabama coast when the oil spill occurred. The sheen was about to enter Perdido Bay and locals has been trying to get booms at the mouth but to no avail. Obama shows up there, sees what was about to happen and there was booms in place the next day.
The incident you described speaks more of the all-too-common, bureaucratic/corrupt attitude of your local officials than about credit to Obama.
Even if Obama did request the booms specifically, he was only pointing out something anyone with half a brain already knew. The focus should be why nothing was done until Obama showed up, so that any future mishap could be handled better. And that should be the takeaway of this incident, not credit to Obama.