Kate Sheppard writes at Mother Jones:

Nearly one month into the worst environmental catastrophe in US history, President Barack Obama finally appeared to be stepping up his response to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. On Saturday, he announced the formation of a national commission to prevent future spills. In the past week, his administration has also called on BP to make more information on the spill available to the public, and to find a less toxic alternative to the chemicals it’s using to disperse the oil. These were noteworthy developments, because when it comes to the response effort, the Obama administration has been surprisingly hands-off. But despite the administration’s latest moves, it’s still leaving many of the critical decisions to BP.
For starters, despite BP’s repeated failure to stop the flow of oil into the sea, the firm remains in charge of the efforts to plug the well. This weekend, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen affirmed his support for BP and its CEO in an interview with CNN. “I trust Tony Hayward,” he said — a statement that did little to allay concerns that the administration has put too much faith in the oil giant. In a White House press conference on Monday, reporters pressed Allen about why the federal government hasn’t pushed BP aside (on Sunday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had indicated it might do so). Allen bluntly replied, “To push BP out of the way would raise the question of to replace them with what” — adding that the federal government doesn’t have the technology or expertise to deal with this problem.

The rest here.

This is becoming an interesting case-study in the role of government. The Left is horrified that the federal government can’t “fix” the problem, while the Right — i.e. Jindal and Vitter yesterday — just want the feds to send them what they ask for and get out of the way.