Charles Krauthammer.

^In the end, speeches will make no difference. If BP can cap the well in time to prevent an absolute calamity in the Gulf, the president will escape politically. If it doesn't - if the gusher isn't stopped before the relief wells are completed in August - it will become Obama’s Katrina.^

^That will be unfair, because Obama is no more responsible for the damage caused by this than Bush was for the damage caused by Katrina. But that's the nature of American politics and its presidential cult of personality: We expect our presidents to play Superman. Helplessness, however undeniable, is no defense.^

^Moreover, Obama has never been overly modest about his own powers. Two years ago next week, he declared that history will mark his ascent to the presidency as the moment when "our planet began to heal" and "the rise of the oceans began to slow."^

^Well, when you anoint yourself King Canute, you mustn't be surprised when your subjects expect you to command the tides.^