states, even if you're from a different political party, shouldn't you keep that conversation between two gentlemen, or is it your view that any conversation with the president, even if it's in a back room, can be broadcast later? >> look, my bottom line is we were frustrated with the federal response, and i think the lessons learned can be helpful going forward. i was on your show after katrina, and i criticized not just a democratic president but a republican president when i didn't think the government did what it should have done after katrina. i think it's important to know what worked and didn't work with regards to this oil spill response, and it was frustrating that at the didn't cut through the red tape or the bureaucracy, even after we asked them repeatedly as i described in the book. there was literally oil coming. there are boats, skimmers, booms sitting down there. they're not deploying those resources. we bring the federal official in charge of the federal response in a black hawk helicopter to see the oil for himself, and we think, well, finally we're going to get a response here. he tells us it will take him 24 to 48 hours to go through the