In a sense, it’s refreshing to have a president who is candid about shortcomings. Yet Obama’s news conference may have been the weakest hour of his presidency.

As I sat in the fourth row on Thursday, I was struck by the weirdly passive figure before me. He delivered lawyerly phrases and spoke of his anger about the oil spill but showed none in his voice or on his face. He was, presumably, there to show how aggressively he has handled the disaster, but he seemed cool, almost bloodless…

He also retreated from the tough talk his administration has used on BP. Asked about the White House’s vow to keep its “boot on the neck” of BP, Obama replied: “I would say that, you know, we don’t need to use language like that.”

Yes we do! And we need tough deeds to match the tough talk.