Disaster Obama Style

Disasters!

We all have 'disasters'. They seem to be a major part of everyone's life  Some are worse than others but when a 'disaster' hits it can be devastating and ruin one's life but not all 'disasters' have this effect. Some people and countries get away with a 'disasters'.

It all depends on how the 'disaster' is handled. Desmond Morris in his book 'The Naked Ape' is very good at 'disasters'. Morris says that there are two ways of 'disaster' coping, not surprisingly the 'wrong' way where the 'disaster' spirals out of control and the 'right way where the 'disaster' although still a 'disaster' gradually gets sorted out and fades from memory and everything carries on as if nothing had happened.

President Obama and BP have a 'disaster'. No doubt about it The Mexican Gulf Oil spill is a major disaster for BP, the world but especially President Obama. His presidency will possible rest on it.

So how is Obama doing? Well at the moment not too well. BP on the other hand is starting to look as if it might get away with it. BP  is not really responsible for the leak, yes, BP leased the rig but the fault may lie with the bad legislation that the previous Bush oil friendly administration allowed .
 
The spill was a disaster waiting to happen. It happened on Obama's watch. Unluckily for Obama he had just caved into the USA oil industry and allowed off shore drilling thus going back on an election promise and this fatal miscalculation has come up and hit him as he no longer holds the moral high ground.

BP got off to a fine start by accepting liability when no USA company would do such a thing. Transocean has taken off to Switzerland  and Haliburton who should have seen the rig was safe has kept quiet. USA companies learned from the Bhopal disaster that masterly inactivity pays.

But Obama did nothing and now it is too late. Instead of  immediately helping out with the full emergency resources that only the USA administration can offer in a

'Well its happened, nobody really knows what to do but somehow all of us together have to sort this out and we will argue about the right's & wrongs later lets all get on with the clean up. Follow me chaps!'

Obama has decided to go for the outsider 'British Petroleum' by putting the full blame on a foreign company while letting the USA companies off the hook  thus annoying the USA's greatest alley Britain  and damaging countless thousands of investors and pensioners in one swoop. Obama forgets that the public is not stupid. They know that the blame lies evenly distributed. The public knows it was the USA administration that had not the foresight to see that drilling at such extreme depths was dangerous to the health.

The way things are going BP  as a company will be a goner and President Obama will be to blame. Obama's constant attacks seem ridiculous and a diversion when the clean up is the main item on the agenda.   BP's reputation for fairness although a defunct company will eventually be recognized, as it did the right thing and owned up immediately but Obama's hounding to death a company  and a managing director who is doing its best under horrendous circumstances will be remembered for the unfair, petty and one sided.

Regretfully as an admirer of President Obama I must admit this is not his finest hour.