Yesterday may have been a day to remember in the White House Briefing Room on the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, because of a straightforward answer by the man in charge of the federal spill response, that it's not time for the feds to take charge from the oil company.

"To push BP out of the way would raise a question; to replace them with what?" said Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen.

The response momentarily stunned reporters at the White House, who seemed bewildered by the blunt answer.  You can even hear a few laughs in the background, as the journalistic mind tries to wrap around that BP sound bite.

"Do you think that this government right now is doing the best it can?" immediately asked a reporter of Allen.

"I've been involved with the technical decisions made, especially in relation to deal with the leak, and they are pressing ahead," Allen said of BP.  "We are overseeing them.  They're exhausting every technical means possible to deal with that leak."

In other words, the feds couldn't do any better.  Evidently no other oil company can do any better either, and Allen has asked around.

And that means the fate of the Obama White House on this oil spill seems to be resting more and more every day on the shoulders of British Petroleum.

That means playing good cop, bad cop on BP.  Slamming their shortcomings while at the same time praising their efforts.

"First and foremost, we are trying to do everything, as I've said, human and technologically possible, first to plug this leak, and secondly, to deal with what has spilled and both the environmental and economic impacts of that oil," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Today brings another hearing in the Congress on BP, in the Senate Energy Committee, lawmakers find themselves in the position of waiting around to see what BP can or cannot do, all while watching the video of the pipe spewing more oil into the Gulf.

The Coast Guard Commandant was asked repeatedly when BP might be able to cap this thing, and he admitted that short term solutions might not work, and that the two relief wells being drilled now may be the last line of defense.

"Well, the ultimate timeline is August for the relief well, for the permanent solution," said Allen.

What if that doesn't work?  What does the White House do then, especially given that Allen has already said getting rid of BP on this fight wouldn't make any difference?

As Don Criqui always liked to say on Fourth Down, "Everybody loves a gambler until he loses."