I think Charles Krauthammer hits the nail on the head when he says the Gulf Oil spill is Obama's Katrina, but not for the reasons everyone's saying:
In the end, speeches will make no difference. If BP can cap the well in time to prevent an absolute calamity in the gulf, the president will escape politically. If it doesn't -- if the gusher isn't stopped before the relief wells are completed in August -- it will become Obama's Katrina.
That will be unfair, because Obama is no more responsible for the damage caused by this than Bush was for the damage caused by Katrina. But that's the nature of American politics and its presidential cult of personality: We expect our presidents to play Superman. Helplessness, however undeniable, is no defense.
Obama as Superman was pretty much his entire campaign pitch, so I don't have a lot of sympathy for a guy felled by his own massive hype, especially when he seems to be going out of his way to look neglectful of the situation. The fundraisers, the vacations, the ignorance of major personnel changes, the multiple basketball-related press appearances.
Enter the NRSC with a well-done web ad taking on Obama's lackadaisical response, using words from mostly left-leaning critics, who are dealing not just with the tragedy of the spill itself but with a painful ideological realization about the fallibility of Obama and the federal government as saviors.
