I do agree with those who are critical of the amount of anti BP rhetoric stated by this administration. However, the Obama administration has a history of beating up foreign firms in the press notably Toyota. Then again this adminstration has spent more time blaming Rush Limbaugh and Fox news for his poll numbers than creating jobs.
There is some legitimate anger at the BP. However, the anger really belongs directed at the Obama administration for not directly intervening and getting more involved with the efforts to reduce the impact of the spill earlier. In short Obama rather than getting the USA directly involved in the efforts to seal the leak passed the buck to BP.
That being said drilling for Oil remains a dangerous activity. BP is a respectable company and an assett to the communities it serves. I proudly buy my gas at BP and will not spend a nickel at Citgo even if it were far less expensive to do so.
The discussion of BP is in no way anti UK. Moreover, folks in the USA really don't care about the UK or comment about its politics anywhere near the level that its residents obsess about events
in America to an almost cartoon like manner. One can read American blogs and see scant coverage of events in the UK other than Prince Charles and Galloway are loons. I contrast this with the ignorantii at Harry's Place who proclaim themselves experts on all things American based upon a few trips to NYC, reading the Bolshevik NYT and the Huffington Post and accounts of events in their local media.
Examples of this
1) Whole threads on the Tea Party Movement from people who have never attended a single event. Tea Party events are in fact more peaceful and less hateful than so called "Nuremberg style so called Peace Protests". Even a basic glance at the wonderful blog of the Urban Infidel shows this in seconds.
2) Lengthy Diatribes about radio talk show hosts the authors have never bothered to listened to.
Sorry, but self proclaimed media experts should at least listen to a few shows before claiming expertise. In fact Limbaugh listeners are more educated and earn more than the general public.
Mark Levin is an actual Constitutional Scholar and his show is far and away more informative than anything on MSNBC. Sean Hannity has plenty of opposing views on his show.
3) Whole threads on Books the authors have never bothered to read. One should at least attempt to read Unfit for Command before commenting on it.
There is no such animal as anti UK sentiment in the USA. There is some anti French sentiment
that has been toned down by the friendlier tone of Sarkozy. There is plenty of anti Castro and Chavez sentiment in the USA based on the policies of criminal regimes.
The folks in the UK are quite off on this one. Most Americans really could care less about what goes on in the UK. This is not hatred, it is more irrelevance and boredom.
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A UK blogger over at Infidel Bloggers Alliance recently wrote an essay entitled "Barack Obama's 'anti-British' rhetoric." He commented:
I can tell you that Obama is creating a lot of anger and anti - American sentiment over here because of his Brit bashing over what was after all an accident when Americans and not BP were operating and managing the oil rig.
Reading the entire essay gives some insight as to how angry many Brits are right now with BHO.
Anti British? Nah, only for tomorrow's World Cup match.
BP is not a good company, by any stretch of the imagination. This is not their first offense, far from it. They are notorious for slacking off on maintenance of their refineries and pipelines. They even had some oil leaks from pipelines that were rusted. They have been subject to numerous fines.
They probably lied about how much oil was leaking. Where Obama was at fault in this was in being too willing to take their word as to how much was leaking and as to their ability to fix it. Then he just more or less went on as though nothing was really amiss when he should have been more engaged.
But of course BP has strong ties to the Administration, to both political parties, and to regulators.
What they want is a bailout. They are wanting the government to foot the cost of the cleanup. They won't come right out and say that, but wait and see if they don't make some noise about bankruptcy. I bet there are more assets being funneled than its possible to know about.
BP is like any other giant corporation. They need to protect the interests of their investors, and the minute they can no longer do that, their stock value will plummet.
And then there is the aspect that British pensioners are dependent on the solvency and health of BP in order to keep getting their checks. Look for David Cameron to come to the US, hat in hand. If he gives a promise to send more British troops to Afghanistan, then you'll know something's up.
I wouldn't even be surprised if the Queen were to embark on a whirlwind US tour.
Ducky's here said...
Anti British? Nah, only for tomorrow's World Cup match.
Ahem, that'd be the English National team the US just played. No such thing in FIFA as a British team - except for Cornwall, each country in the UKs has its own national team.
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