President Obama is coming back on Friday. Reports say he is frustrated with aides, with BP, with the slow response. Everybody here is. I can tell you that. New polling today shows the public losing confidence in the government's handling of the crisis, though they trust him much more than they trust BP.
Let's turn now to CNN's David Gergen and Rice University presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.
David, I mean, a month ago, it seemed like the federal government was on top of this. They were beating back claims by conservatives that this was Obama's Katrina. And now it seems that may have been premature.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it was, Anderson.
But, in the beginning, this was a small isolated problem. At least it seemed so. And so it was understandable that the government would leave the leadership on it to BP. But, since then, in the last two or three weeks, this has become a growing national emergency. And it has come -- it now demands a national response.
It is -- it should be unacceptable -- and I think it is to most Americans -- to let the fate of our precious coastline and the waters off our shores rest in the hands of a foreign-owned company like BP. This is a problem for which government, it's -- it's fundamental that government be there, protect us in times of war and in national emergencies.
The president must take charge of this, especially if BP fails tomorrow in this critical effort to get that top kill in place.
COOPER: And, Doug, you know, you have the secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar, saying, you know, well, we're putting the boot on BP's neck. But it doesn't seem like there's much pressure being applied to that boot, if it's there at all.
I mean, the EPA sent out a letter about stop using dispersants, but that's basically been ignored. And now the EPA today is kind of saying, well, OK, well, now we're going to do our own research and try to find out.
Why haven't they been doing research for the last, you know, month?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, that's a good question.
And I agree with everything David Gergen just said. I think the Obama administration finds themselves in a very difficult position right now. They can't really go after BP until they cap that well in the way that perhaps they would like to, meaning unleashing the Justice Department against BP. There are other possibilities of having a different company drill relief wells. But what can you do now, when we have a clock that is ticking 24 to 48 hours, where this last Hail Mary attempt to plug that mile-deep disaster is going to happen?
I think, on Friday, when President Obama comes to the Gulf South, goes to Louisiana, if that's not capped, he is going to have to take on a whole different tone of leadership, and, as David said, talk about what a glorious place the Gulf of Mexico is and what these coastlines mean and the fisheries and why this is like our Great Lakes or Mississippi River.
We haven't had a bullhorn moment from President Obama. We haven't heard the passion. And you know he's sickened by all this. It's a time we don't need the cool, collected Obama. We need the orator and the leader who's emotive.
COOPER: You know, David, those two defend the Obama administration -- and that's certainly not my job -- but those who do say, well, look, what could they have done? You know, the U.S. government doesn't have the expertise of a company like BP in terms of, you know, dealing with disaster at this depth in the water.
GERGEN: That's true, Anderson. The government cannot solve this. It does not have the capacity.
But what government can do is to mobilize the forces that have answers. And -- and the -- and the way the presidents, forceful presidents, do it is, they put somebody in charge. There's -- it's not clear who's in charge now in the administration. Is it the Interior Department? Is it Thad Allen, who is wonderful at the Coast Guard? Is it somebody in the White House?
We don't know. But there has to be someone in charge. And then you bring in the -- all of the representatives, the CEOs of all of these drilling companies, and say, ladies and gentlemen, you have got a collective responsibility to come up with your best technology, your best scientists, your best engineers, and get this problem solved.
Call in the best minds of the country. Call -- you -- put the National Guard in a far more aggressive position trying to defend our coast, build these berms, do whatever is necessary, and call in for citizen volunteers, and put the Cabinet on notice, if we don't get this problem solved in the next 30 to 60 days, your jobs are in jeopardy.
That's what it means to take charge. And I'll tell you this. This -- Doug Brinkley may think this is stretching a little too far, but I do believe that, if our government had fought World War II the way we're fighting the oil spill, there's a good chance many of us would be speaking German today.
BRINKLEY: Well, and to -- you know, I have been saying, Anderson, that -- I have used the world high commissioner. That's what John Jay McCloy used to be.
But we need a George Marshall-like figure, somebody like a Colin Powell now, to do what David saying, be a coordinator of this. Ken Salazar is a wonderful man at Interior, but he has got to deal with the MMS scandals, which are profound. He has got to deal with the wildlife refuges that are being devastated in the Gulf South.
And then look at Thad Allen, who didn't lose a single asset, not a boat or helicopter, in Katrina, a great man at the Coast Guard, but he has got his hands full dealing with Coast Guard issues.
It's too fragmented. President Obama has to streamline this, have a regular leadership. And if we had that from the get-go, that -- the footage of all that oil pouring out would have been there from day two or day four or day five instead of waiting a month for it.
It's people -- we live in a very fast 24/7 time cycle. People want answers. They want to see action, and they want to feel that the White House understands a whole region is in peril right now.
COOPER: It is sort of fascinating, David, for a president who watched Katrina and saw the -- you know, the failures of the Bush administration -- and there were failures, also, on the state and local level, we all know in Katrina. But for a president who saw that and, you know, was very critical of it to now find himself in a situation in which he's being criticized for the lack of response or lack of coordination is kind of stunning.
GERGEN: It is kind of stunning, Anderson. And you've been so close to both of these. And you -- and you must scratch your head and watch, as we all do, but I think the critics are saying this is sort of a coming Katrina in slow motion have a point.
I am very sympathetic with what the administration has done. This is tough. It's very tough. And President Obama clearly cares. And we have to appreciate that. But it's not enough simply to care. You've got to take charge. And we've reached that moment in this crisis when I think he has to take charge.
BRINKLEY: Every time I see BP CEO Tony Hayward in Louisiana seeming to be in charge of our Gulf of Mexico, the failed -- the failed CEO of BP, it's -- it comes off as pathetic.
COOPER: Well, seeing him walk the beaches, I think it was yesterday, you know, with camera crews following him, this photo op, you know, finally, I guess, they decided not have him be interviewed in offices, because that made him look bad. So he was out on the beach. But you know, to see him walk the beach followed by cameras was kind of a, you know, manufactured situation.
But it is the kind of thing you want to see government leaders, you want to see the president of the United States and get the feeling that they're the ones in charge.
David Gergen, Douglas Brinkley, appreciate you being on tonight. Thanks.
GERGEN: Thank you.
Transcript from Anderson Cooper AC360 Aired May 25, 2010