One of the mistakes of the Obama administration was the “I’m in charge” mode on this, taking ownership on the BP stuff early. Now he owns a mess.
Matthews just compared it to the Iranian Hostage Crisis in terms of political cost. That is exactly right and depending on the long term effects of this spill (BP will eventually get it fixed maybe even this week.) it will bleed him the same way the Iranian Hostage Crisis did.
The ultimate Arthur vs Carter experience!
Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog 
Yeah, I’ll buy the comparison in terms of sheer magnitude of the cost.
However the Jimmeh had much more direct capacity to affect Tehran than Barack the Gulf.
And in this particular case, Carter will ever be the greater goat.
Nearing halfway through his term, Obama is probably the greater overall train wreck.
The current administration is like watching an alcoholic self-destruct. You genuinely wish, as a caring human being, that things could be different. But the bottle of stupidity never seems to run dry for this one, and where can any interest in improvement be found?
Your point is well taken and they are frantically saying it really isn’t his fault.