New York ( CNN ) -- President Obama has given a lot of speeches . He 's given hundreds since he became president . He 's given six in the last two days on his trip to the Gulf . But last night 's was the first speech he has given from the Oval Office . It will not be his last . But it was important , and he gave it well . It took him five paragraphs to say the serious words we have all known for weeks , but he needed to say : `` This oil spill is the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced . '' He went on to say what every American and every victim of this disaster wanted to hear : `` We will fight this spill with everything we 've got for as long it takes . We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused . And we will do whatever 's necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy . '' The rest of the speech did n't matter nearly as much . There were other things he wanted to say , and some of them were important . But the reality is that those 44 words quoted above are action items : We will fight with everything ; we will make BP pay ; and we will help our citizens recover . Now the president has to make it happen . As our nation 's leader , he made commitments and they must be kept . We all know the president can give a great speech . In fact , he 's president because he first got noticed giving a speech . He gave many more inspiring campaign speeches and raised the expectations of millions of Americans that things would be different . Whether they are or not is up to each individual to judge . But why there was such a buildup to his giving his first Oval Office speech baffled me . The president sits at his own desk in the office he works in every day ; he looks into the camera and reads the teleprompter . It 's symbolic , but that 's about it . My old boss Ronald Reagan gave most of his big speeches from the Oval Office . He felt that the office gave gravitas to his words . He had a unique ability to look into that camera and make most Americans feel he was talking to them -- a very special skill . Who can forget his speech from the Oval Office on the night of the Challenger disaster ? The doubts people have expressed over the last several weeks about Obama were : Does he get it ? And if he does , is he tough enough to do something about it ? I think he gets it . I hope he 's tough enough . I think the speech was a good speech . It was the public consumption speech . It was designed to make us feel better . The next speech he gives in the Oval Office is the one that counts . It 's a private speech . When he meets Wednesday with the chairman and chief executive officer of BP , he needs to express the anger and disappointment of the nation and put a fear into this company that will move them to continued action and enough contrition that they wo n't quit until every last legitimate claim is paid . That 's what we want to hear ! The president closed his speech asking for prayers . `` We pray for the people of the Gulf . And we pray that a hand may guide us through the storm towards a brighter day . '' I think what the American public wants is a president who will guide us through this storm . If we pray , our prayers are for him and those victims of this disaster . The time for speeches is over . No more words ; just action ! The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ed Rollins .
Ed Rollins says President Obama 's speech made all the key points . He says the most important thing is that Obama follow up with action . Rollins : Americans want to know if Obama is tough enough to deal with this crisis . He says key test will come when Obama meets with BP executives .