While I won't trivialise the damage the BP oil leak is causing, or the amount of suffering by the people around the Gulf of Mexico, which will undoubtedly become worse as time passes, I am totally amazed at the almost non-stop vitriolic lambasting the company is enduring at the hands of Barack Obama and some Congressmen. Yes, it is a humungous catastrophe; yes, as overseers BP is responsible and may have made serious mistakes - but is any of this abusive behaviour tantamount to bullying really helping anything? Countries have tried and tested ways of dealing with such disastrous matters, and for making the offender pay. But as far as I can ascertain the intention has always been for the people involved to undertake these methods in a civilised manner. For the government of the United States, and most definitely President Obama, to be seen acting almost like the proverbial fishmongers' wives is doing neither them, nor the world, one bit of good!
It is well known the president's popularity is dramatically falling at home with the American people, but if his advisors believe this vindictive onslaught is a way to boost it then they are living in cloud-cuckoo-land - a place perhaps well known to many in past US governments where all too often the philosophy has been: why use a pint when a gallon will do? If we consider the disasters involving United States companies throughout the world over time, in some of which people have died, and are still dying, and yet no adequate compensation has ever been forthcoming as their lawyers drag out the legal proceedings for years on end, I suspect in the hope that all those affected will eventually die and the problem go away, and then we take on board that this is one of the most polluting countries on the planet, if ever there was a case of the kettle calling the pot black (and all too frequently in this case the wrong pot!) then this is it!
The world is still blinking, wiping its eyes unable to believe what it has seen in recent days. When it comes to accept it, and that may be any minute now, it would not surprise me if that pedestal we placed Barack Obama on is rapidly pulled from under him. In the last few days people the world over have witnessed the president's acting - and it is to our shame that all successful politicians need to act these days, so we may forgive him for it - but we have also seen considerable footage of this man when he has believed he was off camera. The looks, I would say: sneaky and contemptuous, and the nefarious body language as if in collusion, is not of the man we thought the American people had elected.
Today BP is a multi-national company, and all around the world investors rely heavily on it for things like pension funds - including to a considerable extent businesses in the US, but that is no reason for some American politicians to deflect their anger towards Britain and the British people. If it is at fault, then the BP company should pay - and that it has already shown a willingness to do. However perhaps we should remind ourselves which company was actually at the front line of the disaster here, and which country invented (and as I understand it: supplied and owned) the vital piece of safety equipment designed to prevent such a destructive event occurring, but which obviously did not.
Until there has been a full technical enquiry as to what went wrong and why, I consider it utterly wrong to apportion the blame anywhere, and especially so abusively. Yes, BP has apparently cut corners, but as it has done so within striking distance of US soil, and where anything going wrong could prove so disastrous, why hasn