They are the most tragic victims of the Gulf Coast oil spill.

The 11 people who died when a BP oil rig exploded April 20 will be honored today as President Obama welcomes their families to the White House.

Obama wanted to offer his condolences face-to-face, spokesman Robert Gibbs said. The reception will be in the State Dining Room.

The president and the families will also discuss "safety conditions and what type of changes can and must be made in the regulatory framework to ensure that deepwater drilling that goes forward is done in a way that is safe and not life-threatening," Gibbs said.

Another goal of the meeting: To make sure the oil rig workers are not forgotten.

"They were the very first victims of what is a very long and sad tragedy," Gibbs said. "It has changed the lives of many. It changed first the lives of those 11 families. It will do untold economic and environmental damage. It's the largest economic disaster that this country has ever seen."

"They're certainly not forgotten."

Our pal Suzannne Malveaux of CNN spoke to a couple of family members who will be at the White House today.

Keith Jones, whose son Gordon was on the rig, said he wants the president to know that Gordon had a light heart and wanted to make people laugh. Jones also defended Obama's performance with respect to the oil spill.

"I don't know what people expect him to do, if they expect him to go down and clean pelicans," Jones told CNN. "But I think that the criticism of the president that I've seen is from the public relations standpoint."

(Posted by David Jackson)