RAY MABUS, U.S. NAVY SECRETARY: We're looking at months to put the plan in, not years, very finite period of time to get the plan going. Implementation is going to depend on what sort of projects are in the plan.
BROWN: Mabus is touring the Gulf to gather information about the spill's impact. His hope, and the president's approach, is for coastal communities to tell him what they need and then the White House will jump to action. But is that the most effective plan of attack?
Connie Moran is the mayor of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. She was at today's meeting with Mabus and with Governor Barbour. And she's joining us right now, along with senior political analyst and former presidential adviser, David Gergen.
Connie, just -- I know that Secretary Mabus probably got an earful from you and other local officials about the frustrations you've experienced so far. What did you tell him today?
MAYOR CONNIE MORAN, OCEAN SPRINGS, MISS.: Well, all the officials had a two-prong approach. First of all, it was to vent a little of our frustrations in dealing with the unified command that's out of Mobile making decisions for the effort here, for recovery, and for the disaster out on the Gulf.
We feel it's been very irresponsive. It's been inept. Some things have gone on have been inexcusable. In fact, I asked the secretary if he would please send a flotilla from the Navy to take over this boondoggle.
But on the other hand, what his task is, is for the longer-term, for restoration. He wanted to hear our input. He made it very clear this should come from the ground up, not from the Washington down --
BROWN: So --
MORAN: -- on restoration of our wetlands, our barrier islands.
BROWN: Right. So, to that point, given that that's the message what did you tell him you need?
MORAN: Well, we need exactly that -- a plan to restore our islands. This is going to be massive federal projects, probably with the Corps of Engineers. Our islands, our wetlands -- what we need is how we can make sure that those people whose livelihoods are threatened, in the fishing industry, for example, could be transitioned, at least temporarily, into those kinds of jobs. How do we make sure that those people's livelihoods are whole, while, at the same time, taking a look at what other kinds of industries we can bring into Gulf Coast area, and to also restore our tourism.
BROWN: So, let me ask David about this, because it's a very similar approach, I guess, he did argue the president took with health care reform and sort of putting out this vague idea, "I want to do this, now give me your ideas for how we should do this." And given the urgency of the situation, sort of the vagueness, the lack of specifics here, seems to be a little bit problematic for the administration, doesn't it?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Campbell, I think the whole thing -
MORAN: No, I don't think so. I think --
BROWN: Let me have David respond to that. Go ahead, David.
GERGEN: Yes, Campbell. I think the whole effort is problematic. One thing, for example, just for starters, Ray Mabus is a good fellow, I'm sure he'd do a very good job, if he had a full-time job on the restoration plan for the Gulf. But he is the secretary of the navy. He is responsible for the U.S. Marine Corps in that job.
Last I looked, we had two wars going on, in which Marines are hugely exposed, a lot of people putting their lives on the line. I don't understand how he can run two wars for the U.S. Navy with his left hand and try to do the Gulf restoration with his right hand. It does not seem to make any sense to me. A good man -- get two people to do this, not one. There are two jobs here.
That said, the Gulf restoration is a huge project. It is not our most immediate project. The most immediate thing is the urgency of trying to protect the coast lands, as the mayor says, and trying to get the darn spill, you know, stopped. And the restoration, seems to me, ought to be a sort of follow-on project, once we know how much damage there is and what's the long-term prospects there are.
And you've got to do that in the context, by the way, of the Rust Belt of this country which has suffered other kinds of devastation. How do you sort of apportion what the country ought to be doing across regions?
BROWN: So, I mean, it sounds to me, David, like you're just frustrated generally with how every aspect of this has been handled, in sort of a lack of leadership?
GERGEN: Well, Mayor Moran has experienced this firsthand, I defer to her on this. But it sounds to me what she's facing is what so many others have now complained about, that is, we have an extraordinarily over-bureaucratized, overly complex structure of the federal government working the state and local governments that has really slowed this whole process down, and has made it seem very unresponsive with the people who live there.
And the frustrations that she has expressed last night on your program are very understandable. We do -- we still don't have a command and control structure, starting in Washington. That would really ensure urgency and a massive mobilization of resources to protect these coasts and protect the wildlife.
BROWN: And not only resources here in the U.S. but outside of the country -- and I know, Connie, Secretary Mabus talked about taking help from other countries today. What did he tell you about that?
MORAN: I did ask him about the Jones Act, and, of course, there are supertankers that are out there from other countries that can scoop up massive amounts of oil in the Gulf and the secretary made it clear that Jones Act has been waved and that no offer from any country will be turned down.
BROWN: And --
GERGEN: It took a long time. It took a long time.
BROWN: Yes, and it's amazing to people that it did take so long.
And, David, I mean, what is -- what's the source of that? Is it just Washington gridlock? The bureaucracy, I guess?
GERGEN: Well, in this case, Campbell -- Campbell, in this case, you do have a Democratic -- Republican Party and Democratic Party both have their own interest groups and labor, you know, U.S. labor unions in this country were not in favor of waving the Jones Act because it does bring in these foreign sources. But now that we've got a great, big supertanker coming, this one that is owned by Taiwan, this as long as 3 1/2 football fields, it may arrived in the next few days, it's great -- it could be a potentially big, big answer on the skimming. But why weren't things like this brought in earlier? There's a lot of politics in this.
BROWN: And that's what's frustrating so many people who are going through this, just like the mayor.
Mayor Connie Moran, appreciate your time again. And, David Gergen, as always. Thank you both.
GERGEN: Thank you.
Transcript from CNN's Campbell Brown aired on June 30,2010