Anderson Cooper 360 Review: Live Coverage From Louisiana Post President Obama's Oval Office Address

Hi everyone. Well, how about that speech, huh? Way to be underwhelming, Obama. But you know what's never underwhelming? That's right, the bullet points. Away we go!

So, you know how last week the government upped the estimate of oil flowing into the Gulf to as much as 40,000 barrels? Guess what happened today. Yep, 60,000 barrels! Do I hear 80,000? Something to (not) look forward to next week, I suppose. Anyway, Anderson Cooper calls this a "stunning" development, which I guess would be a true statement if one was not paying any attention whatsoever. Dude, are you ever not stunned?

Kudos for the barrel estimation montage though. Very Daily Show-esque.

Our anchor: "We have also known for a while that, in their own plan, BP discussed how to deal with and protect walruses in the Gulf of Mexico. And, in case you're saying to yourself, wow, I didn't know there were walruses in the Gulf of Mexico, there aren't." I actually was not saying that to myself, but your impression is still very dead on.

As it turns out, BP is not the only dumbass on the oil block. Four of the five largest oil companies apparently would not be surprised to see walruses in the Gulf because they all have plans for them! And three of those companies claim to be getting info from a scientist who happens to be dead. Maybe ghosts can stop the leak!

Garland Robinette! I was wondering when he was going to be on. Below is some of the discussion with him and Billy Nungesser:

The similarities of the oil spill plan quick guides is kinda insane. It's like they all copied each others' homework...and they originally copied off the dumb kid. Watch that segment plus Anderson's interview with Ed Markey below:

The president's speech. I'm not even really sure what to say, people. My overall impression was "meh." It sounded nice. I believe he cares. But it didn't feel like there was that much there there. That being said, a part of me is not sure what any of us expect him to do. This is a weird and unique situation. Like it or not (and we certainly do not!), we're pretty much stuck with BP. And Obama is limited in what he can do. Still. An acknowledgment that things are really, really bad, and a detailed plan of how we're going to at least attempt to fix them would have been nice. I mean, can we get some PowerPoint up in here?

I have scoured the Internets for speech opinions and come bearing my two favorite blog posts. First of all, John Cole. Okay, yes, a tad harsh. But he makes some good points and having Obama give his version of the address would be worth it for the pundit freakout alone. They would probably vaporize. Everybody wins! Next up, Jason Linkins, possibly my favorite snarker on the interwebs. Favorite line: "Are we operating off a booklet of Mad Libs, written by Jon Favreau, or something?"

David Gergen on the delayed action and chaos in the Gulf: "Thank goodness our Army does not go to war like this." *headdesk* But we do! Iraq. Hello! We went in there, smashed everything and then didn't know what the hell to do. Our troops didn't even have the proper armor for like two years! I'm by no means defending chaos and screw-ups (two wrongs don't make a right), but this line of conversation is ridiculous.

The Joe Johns piece on Atlantis, another BP rig in the Gulf that is also possible unsafe:

The below video contains disturbing pictures of Pelican nests (with dead chick and crushed eggs) allegedly destroyed by careless BP contractors, as well as Gary Tuchman's piece on bird rescue. I'm glad they're again allowing journalists to get close.

Tonight's Culprits of the Catastrophe takes aim at the Minerals Management Service (MMS). Let's hope Obama reforms it as promised. Why he didn't already is beyond me.