- Dec 10, 2009
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People in UK accept that BP caused a leak (with American workers) but they see company as multinational with only 10k of BP's 80k workers living in Britain. However 12% of annual dividends in UK pensions come from BP and they don't see the point in ruining the company (for politics) along with the Gulf.
People/media in UK felt sure long ago that Obama didn't care for England but know they are seeing him as hostile and willing to harm UK to score points at home (and they know he's doing more demonizing than fixing). So much for new respect abroad.
A sampling:
"Obama’s antagonism to BP is rooted in desperation and prejudice"
"To all bar Tony Hayward, it is clear that BP is finished in America. A Macarthyite degree of opprobrium has been cast against the interloper. As Matthew Lynn notes, BP’s PR flunkies are grovelling across the networks, apologising in that singularly lachrymose British fashion. They should stop demeaning themselves and fight back. BP is to blame for the leak, but it is being demonised by an American President whose desperate populism and prejudice is masquerading as principled leadership; it is the latest British institution to be victimised by Barack Obama...
Obama’s victory was a great historical moment. British goodwill and respect for the significance of Obama’s achievement has been repaid with scorn. Hundreds of British troops have perished and been maimed fighting an American war that Obama has escalated. The sacrifices of his closest and most willing ally were marked by asserting that Argentina has a right to the Falkland Islands. Ironic really - given that the islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain British, and that Obama recently told West Point graduates that ‘America succeeded by steering those currents (of cooperation) in the direction of liberty and justice’.
That’s hypocrisy and hypocrisy is bred of prejudice. Obama dislikes Britain and the British. Dreams From My Father was an exercise in Anglo-phobia: none of the accusations therein have been substantiated yet they colour his diplomacy. His immediate return of the Churchill bust that sat in the Oval Office was a slight but subtle statement of intent. Obama deals with British politicians contemptuously. No matter how absurd, foreign politicians deserve respect on the international stage: having Gordon Brown chase around after him was as callous as it was hilarious. In the case of BP, contempt has become hectoring. Initiating a criminal investigation denotes Obama’s political impotence, vanity and arrogance. His divisive conduct offends the dignity of his office, but it also shows a complete disregard for the globalised world in favour of narrow political interest. BP should fight back, both for its British and American shareholders and employees - the leader of the free world has other things on his mind."
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/6066673/obamas-antagonism-to-bp-is-rooted-in-prejudice.thtml
====================
"America's ALWAYS tried to do down Britain"
Has the worm turned at last? As the oil continues to gush in the Gulf of Mexico, angry rhetoric has gushed from President Barack Obama's lips. His rabid denunciations of BP have damaged the interests not only of that company but of most British people, in a way that must make us wonder whether he leads a friendly country.
Vince Cable, the new Business Secretary, calls Obama's rhetoric 'extreme and unhelpful'; London mayor Boris Johnson says it's 'anti-British', adding that 'BP is paying a very, very heavy price indeed'.
Bemusingly, David Cameron says only that he understands the U.S. administration's 'frustration', although he promises to take up the matter with Obama, after the Prime Minister returns from Afghanistan - where British troops are fighting and dying on behalf of the United States, it may be recalled.
'Extreme and unhelpful' is no exaggeration. Obama has played to the gallery by saying that he would like to sack Tony Hayward, head of BP; the president talks in a cheap way about 'kicking ass'. Whether or not the American president can kick our asses, he can certainly hurt our wallets and purses.
As BP's share price has plummeted, it has lost ?55billion of its market value, and the company's entire outlook is very bleak, which affects most of us. Every British insurance company, building society and pension fund has large holdings of BP shares in its portfolio.
If you have a pension, at present or in prospect, your income falls with every sour word Obama speaks. It's a fine way for a friend to behave, if indeed we should regard the president as a friend...
When Obama continually refers to BP as 'British Petroleum', which is no longer its formal name, he is saying something revealing about himself, and his Anglophobic spite will come as no surprise to those who have followed his career, and read his memoir Dreams From my Father.
He seems to have made up the part about his father being tortured by the British in Kenya, but there's no question that Obama nurses a disdain for and even dislike of this country.
A year ago Gordon Brown visited Washington to be publicly humiliated by Obama (remember the exchange of gifts: thoughtful presents for the president and his children, trashy DVDs and toys for the Browns in return).
If a dark cloud of oil can now have a silver lining, then it might at least lead us to reassess our ignoble relationship with Washington. If the American president is going to ignore or even damage British interests, then let him.
But might not our own government stand up for those interests? For a start, some of the money we've all lost through the BP debacle, and presidential venom, could at least be recouped by bringing our troops home from a hopeless American war in Afghanistan."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...-spill-ire-Americas-ALWAYS-tried-Britain.html
====================
DEBATE: SHOULD BARACK OBAMA STOP HIS ANTI-BRITISH RANTS?
BARACK Obama was today accused of delivering a death blow to the pensions of millions of Britons by calling on BP to halt its share payouts.
There were demands for David Cameron to get tough with the US President over his increasingly anti-*British rhetoric, which has helped to wipe billions of pounds off the value of the oil giant.
Grandstanding US politicians have been quick to join Barack Obama in savaging BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, fuelling suggestions that he is using a foreign company to score domestic political points.
Investors and business leaders in Britain warned that the President’s ranting criticism had helped drive BP’s London share price to its lowest level since 1997, wiping out almost ?50billion ? nearly half ? of its value since the accident on April 20. The share price plunged a further seven per cent yesterday."
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/180421/DEBATE-Should-Barack-Obama-stop-his-anti-British-rants-
People/media in UK felt sure long ago that Obama didn't care for England but know they are seeing him as hostile and willing to harm UK to score points at home (and they know he's doing more demonizing than fixing). So much for new respect abroad.
A sampling:
"Obama’s antagonism to BP is rooted in desperation and prejudice"
"To all bar Tony Hayward, it is clear that BP is finished in America. A Macarthyite degree of opprobrium has been cast against the interloper. As Matthew Lynn notes, BP’s PR flunkies are grovelling across the networks, apologising in that singularly lachrymose British fashion. They should stop demeaning themselves and fight back. BP is to blame for the leak, but it is being demonised by an American President whose desperate populism and prejudice is masquerading as principled leadership; it is the latest British institution to be victimised by Barack Obama...
Obama’s victory was a great historical moment. British goodwill and respect for the significance of Obama’s achievement has been repaid with scorn. Hundreds of British troops have perished and been maimed fighting an American war that Obama has escalated. The sacrifices of his closest and most willing ally were marked by asserting that Argentina has a right to the Falkland Islands. Ironic really - given that the islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain British, and that Obama recently told West Point graduates that ‘America succeeded by steering those currents (of cooperation) in the direction of liberty and justice’.
That’s hypocrisy and hypocrisy is bred of prejudice. Obama dislikes Britain and the British. Dreams From My Father was an exercise in Anglo-phobia: none of the accusations therein have been substantiated yet they colour his diplomacy. His immediate return of the Churchill bust that sat in the Oval Office was a slight but subtle statement of intent. Obama deals with British politicians contemptuously. No matter how absurd, foreign politicians deserve respect on the international stage: having Gordon Brown chase around after him was as callous as it was hilarious. In the case of BP, contempt has become hectoring. Initiating a criminal investigation denotes Obama’s political impotence, vanity and arrogance. His divisive conduct offends the dignity of his office, but it also shows a complete disregard for the globalised world in favour of narrow political interest. BP should fight back, both for its British and American shareholders and employees - the leader of the free world has other things on his mind."
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/6066673/obamas-antagonism-to-bp-is-rooted-in-prejudice.thtml
====================
"America's ALWAYS tried to do down Britain"
Has the worm turned at last? As the oil continues to gush in the Gulf of Mexico, angry rhetoric has gushed from President Barack Obama's lips. His rabid denunciations of BP have damaged the interests not only of that company but of most British people, in a way that must make us wonder whether he leads a friendly country.
Vince Cable, the new Business Secretary, calls Obama's rhetoric 'extreme and unhelpful'; London mayor Boris Johnson says it's 'anti-British', adding that 'BP is paying a very, very heavy price indeed'.
Bemusingly, David Cameron says only that he understands the U.S. administration's 'frustration', although he promises to take up the matter with Obama, after the Prime Minister returns from Afghanistan - where British troops are fighting and dying on behalf of the United States, it may be recalled.
'Extreme and unhelpful' is no exaggeration. Obama has played to the gallery by saying that he would like to sack Tony Hayward, head of BP; the president talks in a cheap way about 'kicking ass'. Whether or not the American president can kick our asses, he can certainly hurt our wallets and purses.
As BP's share price has plummeted, it has lost ?55billion of its market value, and the company's entire outlook is very bleak, which affects most of us. Every British insurance company, building society and pension fund has large holdings of BP shares in its portfolio.
If you have a pension, at present or in prospect, your income falls with every sour word Obama speaks. It's a fine way for a friend to behave, if indeed we should regard the president as a friend...
When Obama continually refers to BP as 'British Petroleum', which is no longer its formal name, he is saying something revealing about himself, and his Anglophobic spite will come as no surprise to those who have followed his career, and read his memoir Dreams From my Father.
He seems to have made up the part about his father being tortured by the British in Kenya, but there's no question that Obama nurses a disdain for and even dislike of this country.
A year ago Gordon Brown visited Washington to be publicly humiliated by Obama (remember the exchange of gifts: thoughtful presents for the president and his children, trashy DVDs and toys for the Browns in return).
If a dark cloud of oil can now have a silver lining, then it might at least lead us to reassess our ignoble relationship with Washington. If the American president is going to ignore or even damage British interests, then let him.
But might not our own government stand up for those interests? For a start, some of the money we've all lost through the BP debacle, and presidential venom, could at least be recouped by bringing our troops home from a hopeless American war in Afghanistan."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...-spill-ire-Americas-ALWAYS-tried-Britain.html
====================
DEBATE: SHOULD BARACK OBAMA STOP HIS ANTI-BRITISH RANTS?
BARACK Obama was today accused of delivering a death blow to the pensions of millions of Britons by calling on BP to halt its share payouts.
There were demands for David Cameron to get tough with the US President over his increasingly anti-*British rhetoric, which has helped to wipe billions of pounds off the value of the oil giant.
Grandstanding US politicians have been quick to join Barack Obama in savaging BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, fuelling suggestions that he is using a foreign company to score domestic political points.
Investors and business leaders in Britain warned that the President’s ranting criticism had helped drive BP’s London share price to its lowest level since 1997, wiping out almost ?50billion ? nearly half ? of its value since the accident on April 20. The share price plunged a further seven per cent yesterday."
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/180421/DEBATE-Should-Barack-Obama-stop-his-anti-British-rants-
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