Big worries in London this week at President's Obama's strong public attacks on BP & its CEO. There's a feeling that his language and tone is unpresidential and he shouldn't be grandstanding like this. Peter Allen's commentary reflects the worried mood in London, as BPs share price continues to drop and even the Mayor of London that there was something worrying about the anti-British rhetoric around.
Now the Soccer World Cup is just beginning in South Africa -- and tomorrow England play their first match against .... you've guessed it, the United States. And this time, there might be a little more edge on both sides as they fight for national pride. Because over here, eyebrows are being raised at your President's reaction to the terrible crisis in the Gulf of Mexico -- and in particular, what's being seen as his anti-British rhetoric. And we wonder -- are his famous skills of oratory, which crushed his more experienced opponent in the race for the White House, now being turned on us? As the leak moves into its fiftieth day, the world is united in its sympathy towards those who live in the affected areas. The 11 deaths and the pollution are truly a disaster. But the politics is starting to become similarly
toxic, because in his efforts to show that he has got a grip, that this is not a rerun of Katrina, President Obama has launched a series of increasingly bitter attacks on BP and in particular its British CEO, Tony Hayward. Most recently, your President said he wanted to know whose 'ass to kick' and that he would have sacked Mr. Hayward if he had been working for him. Would he have spoken like that about an American CEO of an American corporation? I wonder. It's perhaps worth remembering that accidents do happen in big industrial endeavours. Remember Bhopal in India back in 1984, when a poisonous cloud of gas escaped from the American-owned Union Carbide plant? More than 3,500 were killed immediately and perhaps up to 25,000 in the years that followed. The former boss of Union Carbide still shelters in America and all demands for extradition have been blocked. No one in India got to kick anyone's ass there. In 1988, an explosion on the Piper Alpha oil production platform in
the North Sea killed 167 men. An official inquiry was critical of the platform's owner, Occidental Petroleum of America. No one was ever charged with anything. So these things do happen. I'm sure that BP is doing its best to stop the leak. It has promised to spend billions on cleaning everything up afterwards. Perhaps its time for your President to stop his 'venting and yelling', and channel his formidable energy to more productive ends. Meanwhile, back at the soccer World Cup in South Africa, our respective ambassadors have already placed a bet on the outcome -- the loser buys dinner. It's a timely reminder that even when we are at opposite ends of the pitch, we are supposed to be friends not enemies. This is Peter Allen for CBS News in London.
Peter Allen
London Comment: BP
/ CBS
Big worries in London this week at President's Obama's strong public attacks on BP & its CEO. There's a feeling that his language and tone is unpresidential and he shouldn't be grandstanding like this. Peter Allen's commentary reflects the worried mood in London, as BPs share price continues to drop and even the Mayor of London that there was something worrying about the anti-British rhetoric around.
Now the Soccer World Cup is just beginning in South Africa -- and tomorrow England play their first match against .... you've guessed it, the United States. And this time, there might be a little more edge on both sides as they fight for national pride. Because over here, eyebrows are being raised at your President's reaction to the terrible crisis in the Gulf of Mexico -- and in particular, what's being seen as his anti-British rhetoric. And we wonder -- are his famous skills of oratory, which crushed his more experienced opponent in the race for the White House, now being turned on us? As the leak moves into its fiftieth day, the world is united in its sympathy towards those who live in the affected areas. The 11 deaths and the pollution are truly a disaster. But the politics is starting to become similarly
toxic, because in his efforts to show that he has got a grip, that this is not a rerun of Katrina, President Obama has launched a series of increasingly bitter attacks on BP and in particular its British CEO, Tony Hayward. Most recently, your President said he wanted to know whose 'ass to kick' and that he would have sacked Mr. Hayward if he had been working for him. Would he have spoken like that about an American CEO of an American corporation? I wonder. It's perhaps worth remembering that accidents do happen in big industrial endeavours. Remember Bhopal in India back in 1984, when a poisonous cloud of gas escaped from the American-owned Union Carbide plant? More than 3,500 were killed immediately and perhaps up to 25,000 in the years that followed. The former boss of Union Carbide still shelters in America and all demands for extradition have been blocked. No one in India got to kick anyone's ass there. In 1988, an explosion on the Piper Alpha oil production platform in
the North Sea killed 167 men. An official inquiry was critical of the platform's owner, Occidental Petroleum of America. No one was ever charged with anything. So these things do happen. I'm sure that BP is doing its best to stop the leak. It has promised to spend billions on cleaning everything up afterwards. Perhaps its time for your President to stop his 'venting and yelling', and channel his formidable energy to more productive ends. Meanwhile, back at the soccer World Cup in South Africa, our respective ambassadors have already placed a bet on the outcome -- the loser buys dinner. It's a timely reminder that even when we are at opposite ends of the pitch, we are supposed to be friends not enemies. This is Peter Allen for CBS News in London.
Peter Allen