[bcsco]

My colleague Rich Lowry suggested the other day that most people not on the Gulf coast aren't really that bothered about the spill, and that Obama has allowed himself to be blown off course entirely unnecessarily. There may be some truth to this: For most of America, this is a Potemkin crisis. But what better kind to trip up a Potemkin leader?

I wouldn't say that. It's on the lips of everyone I talk to, and I'm far from the gulf.

We may not be living the 'immediacy' of the catastrophe as those on the gulf are, but we will be affected as well. And we are bothered.

[Think free or die]

"I wouldn't say that. It's on the lips of everyone I talk to, and I'm far from the gulf. We may not be living the 'immediacy' of the catastrophe as those on the gulf are, but we will be affected as well. And we are bothered. "

I agree. I'm in Pennsylvania, and people here are very upset about it. My hair stylist is collecting clippings and shipping them off to make absorbent booms, and people are talking about the horrible impact, contaminated seafood, dead birds and overall mess. It's just one more thing that has reasonable people mad at government in general and him in particular. BP isn't getting off easy either.