Catastrophe in the Gulf

All that can be gleaned from all the media accounts of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is that that the situation is nearly hopeless and there are not enough assets, options, brains available to solve the problem.
Everyone is finger pointing, with Obama on one end and BP and contractors on the other, with a peanut gallery composed of local politicians joining in pointing in every direction.  The Republicans are equating the oil spill with huricane Katrina in order to embarrass the Administration as much as possible.
What would have been the optimal answer to this catastrophe?  With no plan by the government or BP in place, with no assets placed near by for such an emergency, not much of anything could have been done is the answer.  Without a plan established before hand time would be needed to establish what was happening down below in order to come up with a course of action  and gather the necessary assets.  With a nightmare composed of billowing oil, twisted pipe, and structural steel littering the accident scene in an extremely hostile environment no one in their sound mind would tread hastily.