There are two things that the Obama administration has been very good at: blindly throwing money at problems and handcuffing big business. The first time Barack Obama actually needs to do this, he has failed miserably.

This president has been willing to spend billions on bailing out companies, a health care overhaul package and stimulating the economy. His first federal budget for 2010 is $3.5 trillion. He is spending $9.5 billion a day. Yet Obama has been silent about how he can spend his way out of the oil spill.

The federal government begins and ends with Obama. Just as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina were tied to George W. Bush, so is the Gulf oil spill. Someone has to be in charge; and in the face of a national disaster, it has to be the president. Yet, Obama has only been to the Gulf Coast three times during this disaster. It took him 12 days to get there the first time. George W. Bush was ridiculed for arriving to New Orleans four days after Hurricane Katrina. Why hasn’t Obama been ridiculed for his sense of urgency?

Take the containment strategy of sand barriers requested by Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, to block the flow of oil into fragile wetlands and marshes. This construction requires approval from the Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Louisiana officials asked permission on May 11, but the proposal took three weeks to be approved. The barriers are being funded by the limited funds of British Petroleum, not the government. Why isn’t the Obama administration spending as much money as possible to fix this problem?

British Petroleum has organized the largest environmental response in history. But BP is still just a company without the resources the federal government has. They don’t have the authority that the federal government does. Obama should be organizing the largest environmental response in history, not BP.

It’s day 55 into the spill, and the only thing I’ve heard from Obama is “plug the hole.” Over fifty days into the disaster, and yet this past weekend BP’s CEO Tony Hayward told the BBC that the two men haven’t spoken directly since the rig exploded on April 20. The man who is in charge of this country hasn’t even communicated with the man who is in charge of fixing the spill. Unbelievable. Unprofessional. Unpresidential. Unacceptable.

Obama has yet to pledge a dime to the effort. He has yet to offer any solutions to the problem. Instead, he opted to ensure BP is completely responsible for the situation. The president is placing all the blame, all the costs and all the solutions on a company that is incapable of handling the disaster. Obama has effectively washed his hands of the situation. Unfortunately Mr. President, the rest of the country can’t do the same.