Even before the spilled oil reaches shore, the political game of assigning credit and blame is in full swing.
The White House Saturday stepped up its efforts to respond to the Gulf Coast oil slick now within days of making landfall in Mississippi and Alabama – designating a new incident commander, introducing a new website detailing their efforts and announcing President Barack Obama himself would visit the Gulf Coast on Sunday.
Republicans have tried to brand the oil spill "Obama's Katrina," as talker Rush Limbaugh put it Friday – a label they also tried to attach to the U.S. rescue efforts after the Haiti earthquake – and the administration has stepped up its efforts in recent days to demonstrate its command of the situation.
"The way we play politics right now, anytime something like this comes up the opposition is going to run it up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes," said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas, Austin. "And if they don't, everyone moves on and if they do, well, then the administration has got a problem."
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