Who's really in charge of the response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster?

In remarks to our nation's traditional press corps last week, delivered in the East Room of the White House, President Obama declared unequivocally that his administration is in charge of the response to the Deepwater Horizon mess:

The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort. As far as I’m concerned, BP is responsible for this horrific disaster, and we will hold them fully accountable on behalf of the United States as well as the people and communities victimized by this tragedy. We will demand that they pay every dime they owe for the damage they’ve done and the painful losses that they’ve caused. And we will continue to take full advantage of the unique technology and expertise they have to help stop this leak.

If he's right, then why does the government show all the backbone of a mall security guard when trying to rein in the shifty behavior of BP?

For example, over two weeks ago the Environmental Protection Agency said that it had no power to force BP to use a specific chemical dispersant to break up the oil globules. That doesn’t sound like taking charge. A week later the EPA changed gears, announcing that it had given BP a directive to stop spreading the chemical dispersant Corexit, 750,000 gallons of which have already been released into the Gulf, and to identify a less toxic product.

BP answered this demand with a flimsy response: there isn’t a less toxic product available in such large quantities, and it kept right on spraying Corexit. At least one dispersant manufacturer counters their claim, saying that its product, Dispersit, is available. Dispersit is rated by the EPA as being twice as effective and one-third as toxic as Corexit, but Dispersit isn’t manufactured by chums of BP:

Members of Congress suggested this week that BP chose Corexit because of links between the oil industry and the manufacturer, Nalco Holding. Nalco has a former BP executive on its board.

Not willing to let BP run total roughshod over it, last Tuesday, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson declared that her agency would launch its own investigation into alternative dispersants and told BP to scale back its use of Corexit.

If BP won’t fulfill an EPA directive, then the EPA will just have to do the work for it.

British Petroleum displays an unbridled arrogance that is probably the result of years of experience in getting what it wants from the government. The Obama administration should pull off the kid gloves and show Americans that it is working for them and not working to keep BP happy.