Did the White House jump the gun on how much oil is left in the gulf?

Administration officials say they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t, when it comes to releasing information from one point in time in the midst of a fluid situation.

“Folks are seriously now saying we shouldn’t have told people what we knew. We disagree,” one official told POLITICO, noting the White House was criticized earlier this summer when it didn’t update the flow rate and other information immediately.

“We’re comfortable with our numbers and as we continue to learn more about what’s happening below the surface and elsewhere, we will build that into our estimate,” Jane Lubchenco, the chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said on a hastily-organized call with reporters Thursday.