A bipartisan Katrina

Now we learn that the Obama administration weakened environmental impact standards and circumvented permit rules for offshore drilling.

We already knew that the administration of former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney was fully in league with offshore drillers. And while congressional committees proceed with righteous indignation about the latest spill, both parties in past Congresses, and in the current Congress, are complicit with a dreadful failure of oversight.

The gigantic blob of pollution moves towards a rendezvous with destiny on American shores. Estimates of the total amount of oil headed toward land escalates by the day, in some cases from credible sources, to ghoulish levels. Official Washington privately dreads the arrival of the hurricane season and the unfathomable consequences when the first hurricane crashes against the giant oil spill.

Get ready for a new burst of public anger toward everyone in Washington.

Make no mistake: The oil-spill catastrophe is a bipartisan Katrina.

Make no mistake: The responsibility lies with Republican and Democratic presidents.

Make no mistake: The responsibility lies with Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

Make no mistake: It is business as usual in Washington that offends the American people, and it is business as usual that allowed this catastrophe to happen and indeed, made it inevitable.

This is a bipartisan Katrina. As the mess gets worse and the truth comes out, the politicians from both parties can run, but they can't hide.