The reputation of the American president has taken a terrible tumble in Britain. Barack Obama's stock may be falling in America, but his response to the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster has seen it collapse on this side of the Atlantic, where until recently it was stratospheric.
The reason is his daily litany of abuse of BP for what is regarded as a tragic accident, of the sort that periodically afflicts America's once-favorite industry, oil. In the British press the accident is universally attributed to the actions of the American rig-contractor, Halliburton, if not the rig owner, Transocean. It apparently suits Obama never to mention this. His xenophobic blaming of BP as ultimate owner of the oil has left his fans shocked and deflated. The blame lies with America's thirst for oil and eagerness to find it wherever it can off its coast.
This was an accident. Surely everyone should gather round to rescue the situation, not stand on the beach shouting insults. No one seems to accuse BP of having failed to do something specific. Everything has been tried at vast expense, and at last appears to be working. The rig was legal and being operated at the time of the accident by Halliburton under American regulation and inspection. If the president has some secret salvation plan up his sleeve, he should surely tell the company.
Is the president seeking to play god? An oil blow-out may be nasty, indeed very nasty, but what is it to do with the president? He is not an oil engineer. If he can do nothing constructive to rectify the disaster, why pretend otherwise and merely parade his impotence?
As for the disaster itself, it is not the worst energy disaster in history. America's gluttony for gas has caused ecological catastrophe across the planet. It has wrecked the Nigerian delta. American forces failed to stop the sabotage of the Kuwaiti oil fields during the first Gulf war, or clear up the appalling pollution of the second. When these things happen, countries should collaborate the rectify them and prevent recurrence.
As it is, Obama has come across as a weak, complaining politician trying to blame a foreign bogeyman for a mishap which should be laid, if anywhere, at the door of his own oil industry and its regulators. It is not edifying. It reminds many Britons of another American president, Obama's predecessor.
Who okay'd work to continue after pieces of the BOP were found?
Who okay'd Halliburton's cement job after loss of wellhead control?
What were the results of the Schlumberger team hours before the blast?
What was the wellhead pressure? Who decided to replace the "mud" with sea water?
Who decided that the failed testing of the BOP was not a reason to repair or replace it?
Who bribed the regulators?
We'll be waiting for the answers, ta ta.
But Jenkins scores one when he pokes America's energy greed.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703303904575293270746496824.html?KEYWORDS=Samson
And then you put your energies to better us and go after BP Simon Jenkins. And have the decency to leave us, and our President, alone.
BP has long had the worst safety record of any major oil company. The blowout in the Gulf was no 'tragic accident' - it was the direct result of gross incompetence by BP managers and operating personnel on the rig. The broken blowout preventer, the failure of the well cementing, the incredibly stupid decision to pump the drilling mud out of the hole and replace it with seawater - exactly the wrong thing to do when the well was "kicking" - all these mistakes were entirely preventable.
The sneering at Obama is a tantrum, nothing more. Jenkins is an apologist for a pack of criminals.
U.S. Fury at BP Stirs Backlash Among British
"...in Britain, where the company is a mainstay of the stock market and a favorite of pension funds, investors and politicians are becoming increasingly angry at the blistering attacks from across the Atlantic."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/business/11bp.html
“The government must put down a marker with the U.S. administration that the survival and long-term prosperity of BP is a vital British interest...."
Spare us the intellectual dishonesty and come out with it - BP is your bread and butter.
The U.S. media narrative tends to liken the crisis to "Obama's 'Katrina' moment." Perhaps this is because the central focus is again the city of New Orleans... true, there is again this widespread, shared-media experience of feeling helpless ~ while witness to spectacular catastrophe.
But in my opinion DEEPWATER HORIZON is not Mr. Obama's "Katrina," rather, it is his "911 Moment."
You will recall that the immediate response of the American public (indeed, world-wide) was SOLIDARITY. "Tell us what to do, Mr. President; We are prepared for total focus, commitment, sacrifice. We thirst for LEADERSHIP."
And Mr. Bush's response was, "Go Shopping."
The media interpret (incorrectly, imho) that what the American electorate wants is "for Mr. Obama to show more emotion." From this my perspective what the American electorate is doing is projecting its own need to DO SOMETHING, to be involved: "Relieve US of this feeling of helplessness."
What the Americans are waiting for Mr. Obama to do is to say to them: "STOP USING OIL"
Stop using petrochemical products, whenever and where ever you can: We can do this.
Hayword's every appearance in public has been an attempt to understate the extent of the disaster taking place under his "management". He has attempted to prevent the public and media from viewing the damage so far, the dead and struggling wildlife and marshlands. The cleanup workers are prohibited from uttering a word on camera; a big BP honcho moves in and blocks any access by media cameras attempting to get a report. He has made the oil more difficult to skim and remove from the waters by implementing aggressive use of chemical dispersants to make the appalling plumes of oil more difficult to view.
Tony Hayword is clearly attempting to stage a cover-up.
In addition, he has been clearly incompetent to deal with the oil well failure itself. Attempts to stop the leak are trial-and-error, the weakest response possible.
Have you seen any spill related posts by a user named terraprieto? Pretty good suggestions re: clean-up.
Other than that his argument is absurd. We're not trying to pin this on Britain- or asking their taxpayers to pay for this. I mean, how and why would the British people be upset with Obama calling out the primary party responsible for this disaster. The only legacy Obama has in regards to Bush is the consequences of his failed policies. Deregulation and the folly that capitalists and corporatists will do what's right or regulate themselves at the expense of profits.
The writter pretends to be naive about the political implications at the same time pins blame on Obama while he doesn't "accuse him of having failed to do something specific." What exactly does he expect??
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/david-prosser-bp-bosss-impossible-dilemma-keep-the-investors-happy-or-the-us-government-1997397.html
"American institutions such as the California Public Employees Retirement System and the Texas Teachers Retirement System hold 25 per cent of the oil company's shares.
Individual investors – ordinary Joes all over the country – own a further 14 per cent of BP. It is not just the immediate economic victims of the oil spill who are suffering in the US, but all of those who are exposed to BP's financial fortunes."
They were not satisfied with Institutional Pension and Investment, the invented the IRAs and 401Ks to suck more money into Wall Street from the Average Joe. Had Bush gotten his way,,, the whole of American Social Security system would have been in their hands TOO.
Business as usual, Wall Street will handle everything, Companies always serve the greater GOOD. All hail the Capitan’s of Industry and NEVER, NEVER look behind the curtain.
This has been coming,, a LONG,, LONG,, time! The Brits are suffering, Niger is suffering, Alaska is suffering, the Gulf is suffering,,, WE are suffering.
The dominos are falling.
All the best
Knute
TR Knudtson
Apparently they missed the reports about the hundreds of BP violations and the lack of a SINGLE fire boom, as is required by law, on the rig.