"Obama accepts ownership of BP oil spill

Obama didn't take control of the effort to cap and clean up BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill at today's news conference. He took ownership.

Despite what you might have heard, the president insisted, he's always been in charge: "This notion that the federal government has been sitting on the sidelines and for the last three or four or five weeks, we've just been letting BP make a whole bunch of the decisions, it's simply not true."

While certain members of his administration have tried to rhetorically separate themselves from BP, saying that the government might push BP out of the way, whatever that would mean, Obama refused to indulge in BP bashing. He consistently used the word "we" when describing the government and BP's joint effort. He explained that the government is, by law, in command. But, by law and by necessity, it must rely on BP to provide technological expertise and to stanch the flow of oil. It must have been hard to both accept blame and admit his limitations.

The government has a greater capability to protect sensitive coastline than it does to cap the well, however. So from here on out, this is the president's show. And he admits it. "My job is to get this fixed.... I take responsibility. It is my job to make sure that everything is done."
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WashPo,
By Stephen Stromberg | May 27, 2010; 2:35 PM ET