James Carville, a stalwart Obama defender, and Louisiana native, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Friday, "They are risking everything by this 'go along with BP' strategy they have that seems like, lackadaisical on this.

"They seem like they're inconvenienced by this, this is some giant thing getting in their way and somehow or another, if you let BP handle it, it'll all go away. It's not going away. It's growing out there. It is a disaster of the first magnitude, and they've got to go to Plan B."

"scares me. He's been acting a little like a Vatican Observer here. When is he actually going to do something?"

"One of the problems I have with the [Obama] administration is that they're not tough enough. They are waiting for BP to say, 'oh, we've got a new plan to stop the oil leak.' They need to stop it, contain it, clean it up, and try to help us conserve our coastal wetlands," said Brazile, who is from New Orleans, on ABC's "This Week."

"They're [BP] not getting the job done," Reid told Gibbs. "Does the government just stand there as a spectator and hope for the best?"

"Chip, Chip, there's nothing that would denote that the federal government has stood there and hoped for the best," Gibbs said.

Gibbs says the Obama administration has been aggressive, prodding BP and "asking" it for more data and information.

"Why don't you order them to do it rather than ask them to do that?" Reid asked.

"Because you can't do that from a private company," Gibbs said.

"You took over AIG," one reporter said.

"Well we -- the company is largely in receivership," Gibbs said.