Let me get this straight. You want the WHITE HOUSE to stop the Gulf oil leak?

More and more people are calling on the White House to "take charge" of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The expectation seems to be that the full power of the government can swoop in and use some type of unknown high-tech military procedure or equipment that can bring a halt to the flow of oil under unbelievable pressure. It's as if we believe that there exists Star Trek technology that could bring an immediate relief.

Trust me; there is no "conspiracy" among BP to keep valuable oil gushing into the Gulf. Not only are they losing product, but with each landfall of oil their civil liability increases as well as the public's goodwill. If the CEO of BP could swim down and plug the well with his thumb, he'd do it.

Whatever "help" the US government could be in minimizing this ecological fiasco ended when they issued the permit to allow drilling there.

As much as we'd like to believe otherwise, the people best equipped to cap this well are BP employees and contractors.

BP doesn't get many points for their PR spin using low-ball figures of oil flow. People are reluctant to trust them, and rightfully so.

I tender this for your consideration. Who but ocean floor drillers have any experience at all working at a depth of nearly a mile below the surface? Few US Naval submarines are capable of even diving to this depth. There may be a handful of oceanographers in the Navy who have experience, but probably none who would have any idea of the engineering required to fix this. A multidisciplinary team consisting of engineers, oceanographers, and geologists will be needed to attack this spill.

There should be government oversight if for no other reason than to keep a fire lit under BP and act as liaison among the variety of industry players that may be involved in plugging the leak as well as shoreline cleanup. The feds will invariably be involved to make sure there is proper compensation to States affected by this disaster and certainly in the years of hearings to set policy to prevent such an event from re-occurring.

These federal responsibilities are a far-cry from what I believe most of America expects.

Other than debriefing this scenario, coordinating cleanup, assisting in civil liability recovery,and possibly future regulation I just don't see that the US Government can do much about this.