MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Thursday attempted to critique Barack Obama's handling of the oil spill, but felt it necessary to point out how "intellectual" and "focused" the administration usually is.

She prefaced her gentle disapproval by exclaiming, "...There was a lot of criticism- and we're not analogizing this to Katrina- but there has been a lot of criticism in the past of decisions made on war and peace and on Katrina by the George W. Bush administration."

Mitchell gingerly added, "And many people praised Barack Obama's White House because it was so intellectual and so focused on problem solving and fact getting. But is there a lack of passion?"

The NBC journalist appeared with Chris Matthews, who strongly attacked the President's response to the disaster.

However, he, too, prefaced comments from the perspective of someone who only wants the best for Obama: "Well, I think people who watch it look and believe, I mean, who are friends of the President, want him to succeed, believe he has made a political calculation not to take ownership, to use a political term, of this problem, to leave it in BP's hands.