Obama’s Katrina, made possible by massive campaign contributions from foreign oil company

But this may have been a two-step, with BP’s foot firmly planted on the wallets of Obama and other members of congress since the explosion. The company gave more than $2.5 million to federal  candidates in the past 20 years with “the largest chunk of their money going to Obama,” according to POLITICO. BP announced today that it is attempted to lower a 98-ton steel containment dome over the leak, which is estimated to be spewing more than 60,000 barrels a day — up from the companies initial estimate of 5,000.

According to the AP, workers gathered to begin lowering a giant concrete-and-steel box over the blown-out oil well at the bottom of the sea in a risky and untested bid to capture most of the gushing crude and avert a wider environmental disaster.

“We haven’t done this before. It’s very complex and we can’t guarantee it,” BP spokesman David Nicholas warned.

The 100-ton containment vessel is designed to collect as much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funnel it up to a tanker. It could take several hours to lower it into place by crane, after which a steel pipe will be installed between the top of the box and the tanker. The whole structure could be operating by Sunday.

The technology has been used a few times in shallow waters, but never at such extreme depths – 5,000 feet down, where the water pressure is enough to crush a submarine.

In the meantime, Florida and Louisiana residents have confirmed that oil from the leak has reached their coasts, threatening not only local wildlife but entire towns and industries:

“It’s all over the place. We hope to get it cleaned up before it moves up the west side of the river,” said Dustin Chauvin, a 20-year-old shrimp boat captain from Terrebonne Parish, La. “That’s our whole fishing ground. That’s our livelihood.”

During a visit to Biloxi, Miss., Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said of the containment vessel: “I hope it works. But we are still proceeding as if it won’t. If it does, of course, that will be a major positive development.”