The redoubtable Fareed Zakaria has a good column in the current Newsweek regarding coverage of the oil spill. He certainly does not spare Obama, but he makes the following point:

To read and watch the coverage of the Exxon Valdez is to be transported back to a different time. There was no effort to implicate Bush in the accident, few calls for him to emote more, no great clamor that he magically “do something” to get the awful images off the television screen. In fact, he never traveled to see the oil spill. This time the president has canceled a trip to Asia, has held more meetings on this topic than on any other since the AfPak review, and speaks almost exclusively about this tragedy. Government officials hold briefings on the topic daily, even when these are simply designed to convey the impression of action. It is government as theater.