Sun-Herald columnist Geoff Pender penned a column looking at the way Gov. Barbour, Lt. Gov. Bryant and other Republican leaders in Mississippi have handled the oil spill versus their counterparts in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.

In short, Pender seems a little dubious of the party line in Mississippi, but he hopes it’s state of optimism, and not a state of denial:

Heck, hearing our leaders talk about the largest oil slick in U.S. history will make you hungry — mousse, chocolate fudge, milkshake, Milk Duds. Maybe we could find a way to deep fry the stuff and have the annual Tar Ball Festival.

I hope they’re right.

I understand the wisdom of moderating the message, if for no other reason than to help our tourism industry. It’s hurting, even though so far the impact of the oil here has been minimal … well, I guess minimal by catastrophic, gushing-oil-for-more-than-a-month standards.

But I don’t think the state’s tourism advertising message, “The Coast is clear, come on down,” is the main message people who live and work here want to hear right now. I believe they also want to hear that our state government is engaged and in charge, and willing to butt heads with BP if necessary.

It’s a well reasoned piece from Pender, who has done a remarkable job of covering the oil spill. My fear, however, is that Gov. Barbour and Lt. Gov. Bryant are not serving up optimism so much as they are trying to deflect criticism of a corporate backer.