( CNN ) -- In 1947 , when AT & T was America 's only phone company , a woman called the company 's chief operator to protest a long-distance charge on her bill . She proved her house had been shuttered when the call was made , but the operator refused to reverse the charge . `` This is n't the end of this , you know , '' she said . The operator replied , `` And where will you go ? '' This week on the Gulf Coast , Interior Secretary Ken Salazar , lashing out at BP 's failure to stop `` the biggest oil spill in human history , '' threatened that BP had better produce or `` We 'll push them out . '' The unspoken reply was , `` And where will you go ? '' It was n't BP that contradicted Salazar , but , ironically , Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen , who said , `` The private sector owns nearly all the means to deal with this problem and [ to ] fix the leak . '' Big Government : Meet Even-Bigger Business . The far right likes to invoke Big Government like a bogeyman , a ghost to frighten the uninformed . But when they need Big Government they decry its absence . Bobby Jindal was trying to privatize much of Louisiana 's government services . Had his approach been applied nationwide , the Federal government would n't have the resources he 's demanding it use to save Louisiana 's coast . Can government get big and bloated ? Of course . But there 's a difference between starvation and a diet . What the right fails to acknowledge is that big business , by its nature , is a bully . And you do n't stop a bully by turning yourself into a 90 pound weakling . In fact , you may have to gain weight . Regardless , you have to exercise , changing pork to muscle . It 's going to take lots of muscle to truly hold BP responsible for the massive impact of its failure . President Obama has already deployed 1,105 vessels to contain the spill , but this massive flotilla is not a match for the estimated 798,000 gallons of oil spewing daily into the Gulf of Mexico . Residents of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast are understandably frustrated , but they , and all of us , need to remember who made the mess , and why . Obama 's Interior Department released a report that uncovered `` a culture of cronyism '' between federal regulators and oil and gas executives , a `` culture '' that dates , unsurprisingly , to the Bush administration . Now let 's be clear : This is BP 's fault , not Bush 's , no matter how complicit in the neglect . Rand Paul , expressing the Right 's `` business before people '' philosophy , dismissed the preventable disaster as a case of `` accidents happen . '' Well , unregulated big business is no accident , though it is a disaster . We know BP failed to follow federal mandates , environmental guidelines , engineering best practices and common sense . Now the Times-Picayune reports that hours before the explosion , BP sent home a team of experts hired to test the well 's cement lining -- without letting them perform the test that would have detected the problem . That is no accident . That 's what we in Cajun country call greed and arrogance . BP 's defiance of an EPA order to cease spraying a toxic dispersent and its attempt to buy out Gulf fishermen for $ 5,000 , is not only offensive , it 's downright criminal . The truth is , this is a huge mess , an environmental and personal disaster with no easy answers . Will the `` sand islands '' sop up the oil ? Maybe , but at what cost elsewhere ? How long before the seafood and wildlife nurseries recover ? Who knows ? Seventeen years after Exxon Valdez , Alaska 's herring still are n't back , and that spill was a fraction of the size . What will be the impact on the lives and lifestyle of the Gulf fishers , and those whose livelihoods depend on them ? Guess , and guess again . Will the flood of oil erode the marshes and wetlands so far that the next hurricane makes landfall in Indianapolis ? Next time you hear the Big Government vs . Bigger Business stereotype , remember who 's cleaning up after whom . An Obama House Cleaning is ahead . And the bullies will be punished -- not just fines , but jail time is in order . President Obama needs to do more than clean the regulatory house and discipline Big Oil . He needs to institute preventive and compensatory measures : Prioritize the wetland and levee repair that should have come after Katrina ; expedite the oil and gas revenue sharing -- Louisiana ca n't wait seven years ; help the victims regain their livelihood . Give us daily briefings , President Obama , of what 's been done , what executive orders have been issued and what legislation is being passed . In short , make sure Big Government is big enough to keep Bigger Business in check . Or who knows what price we 'll pay . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile .
Donna Brazile says the oil spill shows need for a muscular government to control big business . Brazile : Even `` Big Government '' opponents are calling for more regulation . Obama needs to thoroughly change rules on how oil industry should work , she says . Brazile : `` Make sure Big Government is big enough to keep Bigger Business in check ''