While the state-controlled media has been stumbling over themselves to say "Of course not," everyone knows that means the real answer is 'Hell yes.'
It's actually a lot worse, because the Katrina storm itself came and went in 36 hours or so, then left FEMA with the task of managing the aftermath and latent effects. They fell on their face for a couple of days, though NOLA and LA State government failed even bigger, but finally got their shit together and started hitting on all cylinders with military aid, all within a week.
For Obama this is more like the USSR's Afghan war, a wound that keeps bleeding with no end in sight. FEMA has the power to step in and take charge of the thing, assemble an expert task force and resources, then bill BP afterward whether BP likes it or not. The ballyhooed liability limits really mean nothing when you start thinking about the fact that hiding behind them means BP never gets another US drilling license again and may lose the ones they have over 'Safety concerns.' Obama and his HSA/FEMA team just don't have the guts to do that, and mistakenly think all the icky PR for the unresolved problem is going to stick to an oil corporation instead of themselves.
