Karl Rove: This Is Obama's Katrina

Take it from Karl Rove: The Gulf oil spill is not only President Obama's Katrina, it "could be even worse." The "lethargic" response is bad enough, but he points out in the Wall Street Journal that this is happening in federal waters. On Katrina, he says President Bush had to abide by something called the Stafford Act, "which says that in natural disasters on-shore states are in charge, not Washington."

With the BP well, "Washington, not Louisiana, is in charge," says Rove. "This is Mr. Obama's responsibility. He says his administration has been prepared for the worst from the start. Mr. Obama's failure to lead in cleaning up the spill could lead voters to echo his complaint in Katrina's aftermath: 'I wish that the federal government had been up to the task.'" (More Gulf oil spill stories.)