The administration now, six or seven weeks almost into this crisis, is distancing itself from B.P. Smart or not so smart, David?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's smart in one way I guess. It gives them a little public relations space.
But, Wolf, we still have the overriding problem of how do we mobilize the full resources of this country and indeed of the world to stop this leak and to do the clean-up right. And it seems to me that the case is even stronger today than it was last week, for the U.S. government, President Obama in particular, to seize control of this entire problem and take -- and set up a command center.
You know, and we've got -- Thad Allen is a very good man. I'm glad to see him doing the briefings. But one does not yet have the sense, especially as the government distances itself from B.P., that the government is trying to ride this with a B.P. now as a junior partner. All along, we've been in the situation where the government seemed to be riding shotgun, B.P.'s been at the wheel and we get in and we kibitz from the side and authorize them.
But we don't have a sense that there is somebody firmly in control and that we are not going to accept just, you know, in a resigned way that we have to wait until August to get this damn leak plugged.
BLITZER: The White House keeps saying that the energy secretary, Steven Chu, who himself is a Nobel Prize winner in physics, clearly a brilliant scientist, he's there on the command with the B.P. officials and nothing goes forward unless he says it can go forward.
GERGEN: Well, Steven Chu again is someone we all respect and I'm glad he is there. But I don't think the country has a sense, and certainly the administration has not conveyed that it's mobilizing the full resources. You can only do that out of the White House with a command post being setup there, bring in the military where you need it.
But I would like to see all of CEOs of all the major drilling companies summoned to the White House, on an emergency basis, saying we need the help of every company to figure this out. Let's bring the scientist into the White House, let's make people available. Have we seen Steven Chu on division television? Not very much that I've seen.
But there is -- there is just not a sense of muscularity and that whether we're doing this -- it's like we're fighting this with, you know, one hand behind our back or something like that.
I believe the president has to take full command. The law authorizes him to do that. Congress has twice amended the law after Hurricane Katrina and after the Exxon Valdez. They authorized and wrote the laws in such a way that he can seize control of this. And I, for the life of me, don't understand why they're not seizing control.
I know it's politically risky. But it's risky to the country for them to leave this essentially in the hands of B.P.
BLITZER: David Gergen, thanks very much.
GERGEN: Thank you.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's smart in one way I guess. It gives them a little public relations space.
But, Wolf, we still have the overriding problem of how do we mobilize the full resources of this country and indeed of the world to stop this leak and to do the clean-up right. And it seems to me that the case is even stronger today than it was last week, for the U.S. government, President Obama in particular, to seize control of this entire problem and take -- and set up a command center.
You know, and we've got -- Thad Allen is a very good man. I'm glad to see him doing the briefings. But one does not yet have the sense, especially as the government distances itself from B.P., that the government is trying to ride this with a B.P. now as a junior partner. All along, we've been in the situation where the government seemed to be riding shotgun, B.P.'s been at the wheel and we get in and we kibitz from the side and authorize them.
But we don't have a sense that there is somebody firmly in control and that we are not going to accept just, you know, in a resigned way that we have to wait until August to get this damn leak plugged.
BLITZER: The White House keeps saying that the energy secretary, Steven Chu, who himself is a Nobel Prize winner in physics, clearly a brilliant scientist, he's there on the command with the B.P. officials and nothing goes forward unless he says it can go forward.
GERGEN: Well, Steven Chu again is someone we all respect and I'm glad he is there. But I don't think the country has a sense, and certainly the administration has not conveyed that it's mobilizing the full resources. You can only do that out of the White House with a command post being setup there, bring in the military where you need it.
But I would like to see all of CEOs of all the major drilling companies summoned to the White House, on an emergency basis, saying we need the help of every company to figure this out. Let's bring the scientist into the White House, let's make people available. Have we seen Steven Chu on division television? Not very much that I've seen.
But there is -- there is just not a sense of muscularity and that whether we're doing this -- it's like we're fighting this with, you know, one hand behind our back or something like that.
I believe the president has to take full command. The law authorizes him to do that. Congress has twice amended the law after Hurricane Katrina and after the Exxon Valdez. They authorized and wrote the laws in such a way that he can seize control of this. And I, for the life of me, don't understand why they're not seizing control.
I know it's politically risky. But it's risky to the country for them to leave this essentially in the hands of B.P.
BLITZER: David Gergen, thanks very much.
GERGEN: Thank you.
BLITZER: David Gergen is our senior political analyst.
Transcript from The Situation Room Aired on June 1, 2010