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Obama vs. BP
Fraser Nelson has an interesting post on The Spectator web site, where he looks at the impact that the BP oil disaster — and Obama’s reaction to it — will have on Anglo-American relations, and at the blame game currently being played.
Nelson points out that BP is a truly multinational company, with 40% British and 39% American shareholding, and a board of directors that includes six British and six American members. Yet Obama has consistently referred to the company as “British Petroleum”, a name it hasn’t used in over ten years.
Maybe it serves Obama’s political interests to talk down BP, to emphasise their non-American former name, to call for the sacking of their senior management, and to interfere with their plans to pay a dividend. After all, getting angry on TV will divert interest from his inability to make a difference.
BP has committed to fix the leak and to pay for the cleanup. It strikes me that we should be supporting the company for the sake or the cleanup, for their ongoing business, for their 92,000 employees worldwide, and for the pension funds on both sides of the Atlantic who are their major shareholders. We all have a stake in this.
Nelson points out that BP is a truly multinational company, with 40% British and 39% American shareholding, and a board of directors that includes six British and six American members. Yet Obama has consistently referred to the company as “British Petroleum”, a name it hasn’t used in over ten years.
Maybe it serves Obama’s political interests to talk down BP, to emphasise their non-American former name, to call for the sacking of their senior management, and to interfere with their plans to pay a dividend. After all, getting angry on TV will divert interest from his inability to make a difference.
BP has committed to fix the leak and to pay for the cleanup. It strikes me that we should be supporting the company for the sake or the cleanup, for their ongoing business, for their 92,000 employees worldwide, and for the pension funds on both sides of the Atlantic who are their major shareholders. We all have a stake in this.