From that NYT article, the US government “missed chances to act” because they were relying on the assurances of BP that things were under control.
Should the Feds had overruled the estimates of the oil company itself, and have just charged in and seized control? Isn’t that tyrannical and dictatorial? So is more regulation the answer?
Should Obama seize every rig that has an accident or suffers a spill, in case it might get worse, or is worse than the owners admit? What about the Alaskan pipeline? Natural gas wells or coal mines?
What would be the truly Conservative, small-government approach to problems like this?