Editor's Note: This article's prior headline identified Douglas Brinkley as Alan Brinkley. The error has been corrected.

A presidential historian is warning that President Obama's political stock could hinge on the administration's response to the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

"I think that the President has to get control over this situation," historian Doug Brinkley said on CNN's Campbell Brown Monday night. "Right now there is a feeling in the country that BP's in charge but BP is the one that has been grossly negligent," Brinkley said. Brinkley, a longtime resident of New Orleans, offered Brown suggestions about what President Obama needs to do: Address the American people on television within 48 hours, tell them what's happening in the Gulf and talk about what's being lost. Brinkley also believes the White House must consider freezing BP's assets in the United States and called for the Justice Department to speed up its probe into BP.

When asked by Brown what price the President could pay for a slow response, Brinkley told Brown "It's a huge price."...