First, it was I'm in charge here! I'm responsible, and I DO care.

Then, it was I'm on the scene. I'm up to date on everything and we're doing all we can.

Today it was BP was criminally negligent and we're going to nail 'em.

He's obviously trying out different approaches to see if anything works, but there's never really been anything Obama could do about it. The whole problem is BP's to solve, and at this point, it won't matter much if they do shut it off. The horses are out of the barn. The plume is in the Gulf.

David Brooks acknowledges as much:

The failure of the top-kill technique in the Gulf of Mexico represents an interesting turning point on the Obama presidency. It symbolizes the end of the period of lightning advance and the beginning of the period of nasty stasis.. . .

Everybody is comparing the oil spill to Hurricane Katrina, but the real parallel could be the Iranian hostage crisis. In the late 1970s, the hostage crisis became a symbol of America’s inability to take decisive action in the face of pervasive problems. In the same way, the uncontrolled oil plume could become the objective correlative of the country’s inability to govern itself.

The plume taps into a series of deep anxieties. First, it taps into the anxiety that the people running our major institutions are just not that competent. Second, it feeds into the anxiety that there has been an unhappy marriage between corporations and government officials, which has had the effect of corrupting both. Most important, the plume exposes the country’s core confusion about the role of government.

There it is again--another comparison to the Carter administration and another comment on Obama's incompetence, both true and telling. The real point is that nobody can deliver on all the promises politicians make, particularly progressive politicians.

For better or worse, we're stuck with the oil plume until nature heals itself, and it will. Meanwhile, BP will suffer for the defalcations of its officers and employees. The Dems will suffer for running Washington like a frat house. Technology will improve, but it will never be perfect. Meanwhile, people like me feel like corks bobbing on the ocean and realize that there is no replacement for God. I hope we realize that, because if not, if we don't turn to him and stop doing the things that estrange us from him, there is nothing else and no shelter from the storm. We know good from evil. It's up to us.