On Morning Joe, Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel defends President Obama’s White House speech Tuesday night by saying that “he laid out a sense of the recovery and restoration, not only of the gulf coast but of an economy that is battered." Vanden Heuvel says that the President not only talked about holding BP accountable, but also about the recklessness of the corporation. She says that people have been attacking the president for not giving the exact amount of money he was going to make BP responsible for. "Why should he?" she says. "He was going into negotiations the next day."

In reference to a clip from The Daily Show, vanden Heuvel emphasizes how America needs to break away from its energy and oil addictions. "This is a moment where we need to take stock of what kind of country we are, are we going to control our own destiny?" She suggests modest investment in alternative energy and redirection of tax subsidies and tax breaks. “All of these people attacking Obama should remember that we, Americans, have a responsibility,” she says. “Let’s get more efficient! Let’s take some responsibility of our own!”

—Melanie Breault