Obama’s antagonism to BP is rooted in desperation and prejudice

Cuffleyburgers

Absolutely.

Bill Rees

I thought Obama would be a disastrous President for the USA before his election.
The only difference now is that he is a disastrous President for more than just the USA.

Fergus Pickering

Well, with a bit of luck he'll soon be gone. I always thought he was a pompous, self-regarding prick and now I know. Up yours, Barack. Let's have Sarah Palin instead. She's better-looking and more fun. Meanwhile I was thinking of marketing stars-and-stripes toilet paper. And don't forget that in the FIRST Gulf War, more British soldiers were killed by Americans than by anybody else.

Austin Barry

Fortunately, this self-regarding, strutting, smirking streak of ineptitude is not so much a lame duck as one covered in oil,beached and flapping on the shoreline of his own bewildered inadequacy.

Not long to go...

YouCannotBeSerious!

Lots of empty bombast here David - prove it.

Vulture

Your best-ever post, David, and I agree with every word ( apart from the gush abt Obama's victory being a 'historic moment').

The election of this product of the criminal Chicago Democratic machine; a cultural Marxist with a mediocre ( at best) record in Congress was, it is now clear, a disaster for the US and the free world in general - and naturally for us too.

Obama is an embittered enemy of Britain. If he wants, as he says, 'an ass to kick' he should try starting with his own - if he can find it.

David Blackburn

YouCannotBeSerious!

They are his actions and words, not mine and they speak volumes for his political and personal weaknesses. The criminal investigation of BP is absurd.

I was an Obama supporter and still hope that he can make the most of the most of the extraordinary opportunity he was presented. But he's in danger of blowing it.

THX1138

"Obama’s antagonism to BP is rooted in prejudice" No it's not it's rooted in the oil spewing into the sea and and on to the beaches of the southern United States..And what evidence to you have that Obama dislikes Britain, it seems to me that the pre-judging is being done by David Blackburn not Barack Obama.. And to lay the death of British troops at Obamas feet is odious in the extreme .

This is a Vicious nasty little anti American post, that does you no credit!

Sam ARMSTRONG

What do you expect from a youth group organiser from the sh1tty end of Chicago?

Hopefully they'll vote in a proper President next time...

Cjamesk

Couldn`t agree more, call the Obamatrons bluff and bring our brave men and women home from Afghan.

Also was the rig in question leased to "TransOcean"?

Long the UK

I am becoming repulsed at Obama's attack on BP. He never thanks us for Afghanistan.

The man is a skanker....

Naomi Muse

Obama is playing to the gallery for the elections this fall.

He is also making it very clear that the US taxpayer will not be asked by him to pay toward the cleanup.

Apart from that he is becoming an old, slow leaking windbag, when it all looked so good at the beginning.

DH

Excellent piece. Obama hasn't exactly covered himself in glory here. You can see the embarrassment in the eyes of the Texas oil folk as Obama launches another broadside at BP knowing that there for the grave of God go they.

David Blackburn

THX,

I don't there's anything anti-American about it, and neither is it vicious. Plainly, I didn't blame Obama for the death of British soldiers. It would have been judicious had he respected the wishes of the Falkland Islanders and backed the British territorial claim. Self-determination, freedom and security are, after all, what allied forces are supposedly fighting for in Afghanistan. America's closest and most willing ally should be treated with more respect; how many divisions have Argentina in Afghanistan?

All of Obama's bluster about BP, and the company is unquestionably to blame for the leak, does nothing to stem the oil leak, and it is undermining the performance of a multinational upon which 34,000 American jobs depend. Who's to blame if they lose their jobs? The President of the United States should act in his nation's interest, not for short-term political gain in his desperation, and founded upon, as I suspect (I hope wrongly for the future of Anglo-American relations), on prejudicial anti-British sentiments. But perhaps we'll have to agree to disagree on these points. Obama is in the wrong on this one.

Michael Booth

Time to call time on the so-called 'Special Relationship'. Is there anything American we can return to them? I hope Dave does not demean himself running after this man as Brown did.

Plato

Great article David, Obama does good speechifying but that's about it.

Don't forget about the gift shop plastic helicopters and Region 1 DVD box set. At the time it was laughed off as new clueless staffers - clearly not.

His attacks on BP have really annoyed me - as far as I'm concerned the other parties in this have slunk off and only yesterday peeps were convicted of the Union Carbide horror in Bhopal.

Oh yes and Piper Alpha/Occidental Oil anyone?

alexsandr

Maybe the world should stem the tide of american economic imperialism, and boycott their corporations. Microsoft, Asda, Cadbury et al

David Lindsay

Every President of the United States is to some extent anti-British. Who do you think that the first one was? The excision of British influence from the Americas, and really from the whole world beyond England, or Scotland and Wales at a push, is fundamental to the American Republic. That is why every American Administration has always supported the Argentine claim to the Falkland Islands, very aggressively in 1982.

As surely as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was intended in no small measure to prevent any British re-conquest of the Empire in Asia and the Pacific, quite probably accompanied by an annexation of the Dutch East Indies that the Dutch were not then in any position to take back, so soon after the British Pacific Fleet had been cheered into the Sydney harbour that was to have been its base for the prosecution of the War against Japan by precisely those means. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, as much as anything else, specifically anti-British acts.

So when Obama threw out that bust of Churchill, he was not being singularly anti-British. If anything, he was showing an affinity with Britain most uncommon in holders of his office. In the 1930s, there were two British threats to constitutionality and, via Britain’s role in the world, to international stability. One came from an unreliable, opportunistic, highly affected and contrived, anti-Semitic, white supremacist, Eurofederalist demagogue who admired Mussolini, heaped praise on Hitler, had no need to work for a living, had an overwhelming sense of his own entitlement, profoundly hated democracy, and had a callous disregard for the lives of the lower orders and the lesser breeds. So did the other one.

In Great Contemporaries, published in 1937, two years after he had called Hitler’s achievements “among the most remarkable in the whole history of the world”, Churchill wrote that: “Those who have met Herr Hitler face to face in public business or on social terms have found a highly competent, cool, well-informed, functionary with an agreeable manner, a disarming smile, and few have been unaffected by a subtle personal magnetism.” That passage was not removed from the book’s reprint in 1941.

In May 1940, Churchill had been all ready to give Gibraltar, Malta, Suez, Somaliland, Kenya and Uganda to Mussolini. Churchill’s dedicated Zionism was precisely that of the BNP: he did not regard the Jews as British, so he wanted them to go away. The anti-British terrorists who went on to found the State of Israel agreed with him, very nearly coming to an understanding whereby Hitler would have expelled the Jews by sending them to British Palestine, which he and the Zionists would have conquered together for the purpose.

All sorts of things about Churchill are simply ignored. Gallipoli. The miners. The Suffragettes. The refusal to bomb the railway lines to Auschwitz. His dishonest and self-serving memoirs. Both the fact and the sheer scale of his 1945 defeat while the War in the Far East was still going on, when Labour won half of his newly divided seat, and an Independent did very well against him in the other half after Labour and the Liberals had disgracefully refused to field candidates against him, even though he had been loathed by great swathes of the population throughout the War. His deselection by his local Conservative Association just before he died, his death, 20 years after the end of the War, being the only thing that stopped cinema audiences from booing and hissing whenever he appeared on screen.

And not least, his carve-up of Eastern Europe with Stalin, so very reminiscent of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. But we have not forgotten the truth about him in the old mining areas. Nor have they in the places that he signed away to Stalin, including the country for whose freedom the War was fought, making it a failure in its own terms. We condemn genocidal terrorism against Slavs and Balts no less than genocidal terrorism against Arabs, or the blowing up of British Jews going about their business as civil servants, or the photographed hanging of teenage British conscripts with barbed wire.

As for Obama and BP, he is attacking a privatised and globalised company for the fully intended consequences of privatisation and globalisation. He will have to be careful how he plays it, since Middle America does have a virulently anti-British streak. But if instead he reawakens Middle America’s aboriginal but long-repressed hostility, not to Britain, but to international capital, then he could do as much good as if he reawakened Middle America’s aboriginal but long-repressed hostility to foreign entanglements, the spirit of the American Anti-Imperialist League that eventually endorsed William Jennings Bryan, and of the America First Committee of Norman Thomas (anti-Communist campaigner to build a Farm-Labor party), of Sargent Shriver (Peace Corps and Special Olympics founder, McGovern running mate, and pro-life Catholic), and of Shriver’s future brother-in-law, John F Kennedy.

AF

Tradgic as the oil spill is, Obama is appealing to a home vote, quite understandable given his critics at home.
But there is a timely reminder of the real and lasting tragedy of Bhopal
http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=3446
It seems that American politicians only truly appreciate tragedies when they are visited in their own back yard,then they want all the justice in the world.There are so many other examples.Diago Garcia(aided and abetted by a fawning UK govt) and of course the biggy 9/11.If they didn't crave and wish to monopolise the worlds resources they might find themselves more at peace with it,and ourselves for that matter.

Robert Eve

I can't forgive Obama much - but it was OK to treat Brown as he did.

ajs

Dear David Lindsay, whatever would we read without his contributions for sheer wrong-headedness and bile. Take a large dose of Beecham's Powder and Milk of Magnesia.

Martyn Rowe

Great post - I learned a lot there I didn't know about.

davidk

I agree with THX - this is a Little Englander piece of writing.

John Lea

David Lindsay: Don't follow your logic, I'm afraid. How does removing the bust of Churchill make Obama pro-British?

Agree with the general thrust of the argument. We should withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, and send this vastly overrated politician a message, namely, that our loyalty is not to be taken for granted.

Chuck Unsworth

@ ajs

One might ask - through which orifice?

Jason Dack

Let's face it, we have NEVER had a Special Relationship with America. At least he is being honest in his antagonism towards us. Let's look at the facts over the last 70 years:

1. They left the British to fight for two years before joining WWII.

2. They shafted us over the post war loan.

3. They shafted us over Suez.

4. They allowed funds to be raised for IRA weapons used to slaughter British citizens.

5. Clinton allowed Gerry Adams into the US against the wishes of Major - and allowed him to raise funds.

6. They expect our involvement and obedience when launching pre-emptive wars. Although Blair didn't need any encouragement.

I am sure there are many more examples of America treating us like a doormat.

Lord Monkington-Smythe

The BP bashing is also very selective, as there were US companies involved in the exploration and drilling, that have somehow escaped Obama's opprobrium.

Simon

davidk - what exactly IS a "Little Englander"?

I've never been able to figure out what that smear means unless it is your way of saying you are a moron

David Blackburn

davidk,

See my response to THX. Obama is wrong on this.

Daragh McDowell

David -

First off, this is hardly an original thought. Niles Gardiner first came out with in the Telegraph, followed by Glover and Hitchens in the Mail and Lord Tebbit on his blog. At least have the decency to point out that you're simply repeating a rather silly right-wing internet meme. The obsession with the Churchill bust demonstrates a particular narcissism as well as naievite. Can you name me another Head of State that has the bust of a foreign leader in his/her office? And surely you must be aware that Bush kept the bust, not because he loved Britain, but because in his own mind's eye he was Churchill re-incarnated, and every foreign policy crisis was his chance to right the wrongs of Munich. How wonderfully that turned out.

You might also pay attention to the fact that BP had a pretty atrocious safety record before this particular cataclysm, which threatens to undermine his whole presidency.

Take a step back and think about the myriad of issues on Obama's desk and ask yourself what's more likely - that he is consumed by some form of deep Anglo-phobia, or that ceteris paribus, Britain is simply not as important a strategic partner for the US anymore. To put it another way - he doesn't care enough about Britain to actively hate it. That drives the post-Imperial British right absolutely nuts, so they make up a narrative of prejudice by way of comforting their bruised egos.

Ricky

Obamastan is just upset that the oil is not in the control of his real friends in the Gulf.

Obamastan has a visceral hatred of all things British, based on the false view that his Muslim father was tortured by the Brits during the Kenyan "Mau Mau" uprising.

Obamastan's goatherding papa actually belonged to a pro-British tribe and most likely spied for the Brits.

His insults are neverending (DVDs for the British Prime Minister, returning Churchills portrait). Our troops are dying in vain for this embarrassing,one-term buffoon.

As with his loathing for Israel, Obamastan never lets truth get in the way of his prejudices.

Tea Party anyone?

JONNY

'Let's have Sarah Palin instead. She's better-looking and more fun.'

Just wondering which total idiot concocted this moron statement.

paulg

Lets be absolutely clear: this is an unmitigated disaster, visited upon one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Every single American has an absolute right to feel aggrieved about what has happened.

It is B.P's responsibility to clean up this mess, compensate those immediately affected by it and order a full investigation into what happened.

Although president Obama insists on calling it British petroleum, the company is in reality an amalgem of B.P and American oil. With shareholding divided equally on both sides of the atlantic.

I know that BP from this side has some of the best risk assessment and risk management strategies that are found any where in the world; with an exemplary safety record, often working in some of the harshest conditions found on the globe.

Whereas there has been some suggestions that the American side of the operation are imbibed with a can do- some times gung ho attitude.

The Obama administration insisted that drilling had to be carried out so far off shore in response to enviromentalists, but this presented logistic and engineering problems that had never before been encountered.

If they were not drilling at such depths this blow out would have been capped by now.

However, American B.P, decided that they could do it, but as we can see no risk assessment or management is fail safe.

One thing can be said for certain B.P will have the best of the best in the oil industry, flown out by chopper to cap this as soon as possible.

In disaster this is no time for a war of words only deeds will solve this.

Ricky

Further to my previous post. I totally agree with Jason Dack.

The only Special Relationship Americans have is with themselves.

This is a fact. It is real politik and not prejudice. America always puts it's interests first. That's why it welcomed hundreds of ex-Nazi specialists into the States post 1945 and ensured that the UK only eventually paid off our War Loans in 2009. Documents show that Roosevelt was determined to destroy the British Empire and the US President cited as our closest ally - Reagan - had to be cajoled into supporting Thatcher over the Falklands. In recent months Obamastan supported the Argentinians over the oil finds in the Falklands.

America first. As always. Nothing new there.

biggestaspidistra

If only Gov. Bobby Jindal Republican Governor of Louisiana wasn't being harsher on BP than Obama, much harsher, your post might make some sense. As it is BP are being punished for their utter ineptitude and inabilty to see how the greatest ecological disaster affects a population and wildlife as well as their own shareholders. Your jingoism shouldn't blind you to the facts Mr. Blackburn. Here's a good rule for BP to follow in the future, have a back-up plan. 'Jobs for the boys' will always end up in a mess like this.

JONNY

Slightly worrying that Fergus Pickering finds Sarah Palin so 'good looking', 'such fun'
If he goes on like this he might make a fool of himself.

Yam Yam

The only 'special relationship' that the United States has ever had is with Israel. And, under Obama, even that's going t*ts up!

Edward Sutherland

Great post, David. I just hope David Cameron doesn't play the fawning sycophant role when he goes to Washington shortly- he will need to keep repeating to himself on the 'plane over: "there is no such thing as the special relationship, only American interests." Regarding BP, Obama's performance has been crass. The company and its executives repeatedly state that they will do all in their power to remediate fully and to compensate fully- something those American corporate stalwarts Union Carbide/Dow Chemical have spectacularly failed to do over the infinitely greater tragedy of Bhopal.Obama would like to fire Tony Hayward: how about letting the Indian government extradite the former CEO of Union Carbide?

David Lindsay

John Lea, even more than Blair, Churchill was always better liked in America than in Britain. He fought three General Elections as Conservative Leader, lost the first two, lost the popular vote at the third one, was only able to return to office with the support of a Liberal splinter group, and had to be removed during that Parliament by his own party, which went on to win the subsequent Election comfortably. Had Labour, especially, had the spine to contest his seat in 1945, then he would probably have lost it, while the War against Japan was still going on. That was why Labour didn't. For shame.

"The only Special Relationship Americans have is with themselves. This is a fact. It is realpolitik and not prejudice. America always puts its interests first." And good for them, Ricky. As I am sure that you would agree. The President of the United States is not paid to look after us.

America destroyed our naval alliance with Japan, with all that followed from that destruction. America subjected us to Lend-Lease, not paid off until 29th December 2006, though paid off on that date, so that no debt from the War can any longer be said to exist. America required us to decolonise far too quickly, with disastrous consequences for numerous of the countries that they had forced us to leave. "America saved us in the War"? Look at any American depiction of the War and you will see that we are not in it.

America has subjected us to more than 60 years of the presence on our soil of foreign forces, politically as unmentionable as they are permanently unforgettable, without any parliamentary authorisation. America maintains bases here with fake British names, entirely unaccountable to us. America also maintains such bases on two other pieces of our territory, denying democratic representation to the British inhabitants of one of them, and forbidding the British people of the other to set foot there at all. America charges us for the privilege of hosting American nuclear weapons and pretending that they are our own, and we have so little self-respect that we pay up.

America forced us to join the European superstate. So of course Obama talks about "countries like Europe". His every predecessor since the War has thought in exactly the same way. America, fundamentally defined against any British presence in the Western Hemisphere, did everything short of send forces to fight for Argentina in 1982. America spent decades arming and directing our terrorist enemies (who "haven't gone away, you know") in order to bring about a United Ireland within NATO and the EU, up to and including more than complicity in the murders of at least three British parliamentarians, one of them a member of the Royal Family.

America invaded a Commonwealth Realm in the Caribbean, and has long had legislation in place providing for the forcible incorporation of Canada. America seeks to disperse the inmates of Guantánamo Bay by flattering politicians in British Overseas Territories as if theirs were the sovereign states that their electors have consistently voted not to become. Slavish devotion to America took us to war in Iraq, and slavish devotion to America keeps us as at war in Afghanistan.

To say these things is not to be anti-American. It is to be faithful to George Washington's Farewell Address, and to be truly concerned for the life and health of America's youth.

David Preiser

As much as I hate to agree with THX1138, he's not completely wrong. The Obamessiah's actions against BP have nothing to do with anti-British sentiment. He could care less about anything except His domestic agenda. He sent back the bust of Churchill because He associated it with George Bush, not because he doesn't like the British.

This is all about His image, His popularity, His ego. Because the President has been taking heat for inaction over the clean-up, His failure to visit the area early on, and an apparent lack of compassion, someone else must pay the price. This is petty tyrant behavior, not anti-British behavior.

The Obamessiah cares only because this oil spill is making Him look bad. That's BP's greatest sin here, not the spill itself or the environmental damage it's causing. If you want real reasons for those rhetorical flourishes, look no further than the President's ego.

Also, I agree with those who've said that using dead British troops as a cudgel here is disgusting.

Osred

Sarah Palin? Marks out of one? I'd give one.

Verity

David your post was well written and well argued, but this, from your later interjection - "I was an Obama supporter and still hope that he can make the most of the most of the extraordinary opportunity he was presented" is pretentious and silly.

Obama, the great American patriot, came to the US as an adult on an Indonesian passport and applied for a student loan as a foreign student. He's a manipulator and a carny operator and he found his natural home in the deeply corrupt Chicago political machine, where he prospered. And, with the help of former FBI Most Wanted terrorist William Ayers, and his terrorist wife Bernadette Dhorn, worked the Chicago political machine with a view to getting Obama into the White House.

He's not even a black American as we think of black Americans - descendants of humans captured in Africa and transported as slaves.

If the first black American president had been a man of real achievement and intellectual wattage, like Thomas Sowell, for example, I would have celebrated along with everyone else.

I do not understand the infatuation you Speccie journalists have with this shady individual.

YouCannotBeSerious!

David - I'll try again. Can you show me Obama's words that demonstrate his anti-British prejudice? It's not anti-British to be furious with BP.

David Blackburn

YouCannotBeSerious!,

They're in quotation marks, also see the post in repsonse to Alex Massie.

Kennybhoy

I never thoct' I would see the day when I would find myself in complete agreement with THX and davidik.

"This is a Vicious nasty little anti American post, that does you no credit!"

Amen.

The Oncoming Storm

Jason a few points;

1. FDR wanted to intervene in WW2 before Pearl Harbour but he had to deal with a strongly isolationist Congress and public. He gave Britain all the assistance he could.

2. Eden needlessly antagonised Eisenhower over Suez by not telling him of the secret deal with Israel and by launching the invasion before the US election.

3. Clinton's invite to Adams was payback for Major foolishly allowing senior Tory staffers to work on Bush's campaign. He had little interest in NI and saw it simply as a way to get good headlines, his influence on the Good Friday talks was overblown.

Verity

Ricky is right.

Jonny, there cannot be a straight man in the world, regardless of his political orientation, who cannot see that Sarah Palin is very attractive. It may be her looks. It may be her steady nerves - routinely flying a single engine plane, alone, hundreds of miles over the Alaskan tundra to visit Innuit voters. It may be that she was the most popular governor of Alaska ever. It may be that she negotiated a landmark drilling agreement with the Canadian province of Alberta. But she has presence, brains and nerve.

I would be happy if either she or the equally wonderful Bobby Jindal (LA), got the Republican nomination. Either one of them would walk it.

MaxSceptic

Anyone who ever had any faith in Obama being anything other than a shallow-thinking manipulative politician, really ought to have grown up by now.

The nice think about being a sceptic is that you don't get disappointed so often.

(PS - I love David Linsay's Essays From An Alternative Universe. Are they out in softback yet?

Woody

Hear, Hear - get on the phone Dave (David Cameron that is)!

GDT

BP are getting the kicking they deserve. BP should be ashamed of themselves. Such an accident is unacceptable. Obama is only playing for one audience...the American public who are in the end his boss.
This isn't the first major incident BP have had in America. There was another massive incident at a refinery in Texas.
The fact American contractors were carrying out work on behalf of BP is irrelevant. BP are ultimately responsible for this appaling incident.

paulg

@love David Linsay's Essays From An Alternative Universe. Are they out in softback yet? I have to agree with max sceptic, we all know David L is a clever and well read guy, but you believe some rubbish.

If you reverse your argument 180 degrees, you would be nearer the truth.

You need to get out more ride a horse( its a good job i read this post as I typed hore, we can be sure D.L would not have done that) for a mile and drink a bottle of wine a day.

Verity

paul g - from the way your post reads, I suspect you've already drunk your bottle of wine for the day.

The Oncoming Storm

I saw pictures last week of an anti-BP rally in Louisiana at which a fisherman was standing in the Union Flag. Suppose an Exxon oil rig had blown out in the North Sea and oil was washing up on the shore of the Moray Firth, can you imagine the reaction in America if local fishermen burnt the Stars and Stripes?

Tim W

This article seems to me to be very harsh to Obama. He used to praise Gordon Brown to the rooftops when with him. He can't be expected to spend all day every day with Gordon Brown.

As for BP, he's doing this out of a desire to be seen to be angry. There is not much evidence that he likes Britain, or certainly the Conservative Party, but there is likewise very little evidence that he is anti-British.

Hysteria

David - you say "and the company is unquestionably to blame for the leak"

evidence ? The enquiry has not yet reached a conclusion best as I know.

(They have responsibility and accountability for clean-up - but thats a long way from saying the root-cause lies at their door)

Hysteria

Verity

"Obama, the great American patriot, came to the US as an adult on an Indonesian passport and applied for a student loan as a foreign student"

care to provide us with any evidence to support this? I have been following the debate here in the US but have never seen this specific claim

paulg

your right Verity I have drunk the wine I just need to ride the hore for a mile now.

Kennybhoy

paulg wrote:

".. we all know David L is a clever and well read guy, but you believe some rubbish."

Indeed.

C S. Lewis' observation in his “Preface to Paradise Lost” that,

"What we see in Satan is the horrible co-existence of a subtle and incessant intellectual activity with an inability to understand anything."

might easily be applied to the greater part of Young Maister Lindsay’s emissions.

Whensoever I find myself in agreement with him I do a ruthless and thorough check of my own premises and conclusions.

Verity

Tim W says there's not much evidence that Obama likes Britain. Well, that is correct, given that he went over to Kenya when younger and joined one of his myriad half brothers in inciting a muslim insurrection against Britain in one tribal area.

At another time ... I believe he was just out of college, but everything about his past is so murky, and was received at a very high level in Pakistan. The kid had just graduated and was being welcomed into the halls of power in Islamabad and having meetings with top people in government.

This is one nasty piece of work.

Verity

Paulg - either way, 'hore' is a misspelling ...

Hysteria, hi y'all! There is a law suit wending its way through the American system - I'm pretty sure it's Federal and not in Hawaii or IL - in which this is one of the aspects. A friend of mine gleefully sent me an email recounting it and I will have to look for his email for you. I hope I haven't deleted it. If it's not there, I'll email him and see if he can find it. Stay tuned.

Kennybhoy

Verity wrote of Obama:

"..that he went over to Kenya when younger and joined one of his myriad half brothers in inciting a muslim insurrection against Britain in one tribal area."

Obama was born in 1961.

Kenya became independent in 1963.

So an infant Obama was running about the Kenyan bush inciting rebellion against the British? Precocious wee chap! ROTFLOL!

You should get together with David Lindsay. You can compare notes for the next volume of "Essays From an Alternative Universe". (Hat tip to MaxSceptic for that splendid title! LOL!)

Daragh McDowell

Hmmm - Can I warn the other posters here that 'Verity' seems to be what is referred to as a 'birther' - i.e. someone who believes in the insane conspiracy theory that Obama was born outside the US, and there's an elaborate plot to cover it up and insert him as a Muslim sleeper agent in the WH, one so fiendishly complex the originators even planted a birth announcement in the Hawaii papers on Obama's birthday.

Of course, rational people know that Hawaii, like most other states, does not release original birth certs, just the 'short forms' that the Birthers regard as unacceptable for some reason known only to them.

And of course - this has nothing to do with Obama being black, and the Birthers being a bunch of racists looking for any reason to delegitimise his presidency.

JONNY

Hardly matters what Verity thinks of Obama. She hasn't got a vote there.

JONNY

Verity
I don't find Sarah Palin in the least bit attractive. Neither am I gay.
Just a shade worried though when regular girls like you go after her.

John Richardson

Hysteria.

I saw an interesting You-tube interview with a long time Democrat Party mid-ranking-personage some time ago....the evidence of untrustworthiness seemed VERY solid...I might try & dig out the refs. if you pick me up a decent Chardonnay at Tesco's.....
decent mind...

Fergus Pickering

One of the many things I like about Sarah Palin is that she pisses off prats like Jonny. Also, unlike Obama, she does not come from the ruling class. I like that. And she is an admirer of the great Ogden Nash. What's not to like?

Archie

The man's a complete paltroon and incompetent to boot! Don't take my word for it, read the comments in US newspapers and blogs. As for us: Out of Afghanistan NOW!

Verity

'Daragh McDowel' - New around here, aren't you? Never visited before? And are suddenly motivated to call someone names who thinks that, on the evidence, your hero is a cheat and a liar, a strange, made-up name?

You are motivated to "warn other posters", who, being regulars, are perfectly familiar with my opinions, that I can be described by some derogatory term the American left have made up.
Those of us who have Obama spotted as a conman (along the lines of Tony Blair, but even bolder ... and the bolder lies are, the less people question them) believe he was born. So the term "birther" doesn't apply. Maybe "Certificater" might have been a better term of opprobrium, if only you'd thought of it, eh?

Obama refused to have his birth certificate released.

Why?

He was standing for the presidency of the United States and it seems to not be an unreasonable requirement that he be proved a native citizen. Yet he feared to release it. Why?

A more pressing question, as far as I am concerned is, why are you and your ilk so keen to draw the wagons in a circle at any mention of Obama's birth certificate??

KhennhyBhoyh - It was a sloppy post. His participation in violence in Khenyha was in a mhuslim tribal area and wasn't against the British per se, but against Christianity. They wanted that particular area for the Mhuslims.

So many half-brothers, so little time ...

Verity

VERY QUIETLY OBAMA'S CITIZENSHIP CASE REACHES THE SUPREME COURT

AP - WASHINGTON D.C. - In a move certain to fuel the debate over Obama's qualifications for the presidency, the group "Americans for Freedom of Information" has Released copies of President Obama's college transcripts from Occidental College . Released today, the transcript school indicates that Obama, under the name Barry Soetoro, received financial aid as a foreign student from Indonesia as an undergraduate. The transcript was released by Occidental College in compliance with a court order in a suit brought by the group in the Superior Court of California. The transcript shows that Obama (Soetoro) applied for financial aid and was awarded a fellowship for foreign students from the Fulbright Foundation Scholarship program. To qualify, for the scholarship, a student must claim foreign citizenship. This document would seem to provide the smoking gun that many of Obama's detractors have been seeking. Along with the evidence that he was first born in Kenya and there is no record of him ever applying for US citizenship, this is looking pretty grim. The news has created a firestorm at the White House as the release casts increasing doubt about Obama's legitimacy and qualification to serve as President article titled, "Obama Eligibility Questioned," leading some to speculate that the story may overshadow economic issues on Obama's first official visit to the U.K. In a related matter, under growing pressure from several groups, Justice Antonin Scalia announced that the Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear arguments concerning Obama's legal eligibility to serve as President in a case brought by Leo Donofrio of New Jersey . This lawsuit claims Obama's dual citizenship disqualified him from serving as president. Donofrio's case is just one of 18 suits brought by citizens demanding proof of Obama's citizenship or qualification to serve as president.

Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation has released the results of their investigation of Obama's campaign spending. This study estimates that Obama has spent upwards of $950,000 in campaign funds in the past year with eleven law firms in 12 states for legal resources to block disclosure of any of his personal records. Mr. Kreep indicated that the investigation is still ongoing but that the final report will be provided to the U..S. Attorney general, Eric Holder. Mr. Holder has refused to comment on the matter...

Subject: RE: Issue of Passport?

While I've little interest in getting in the middle of the Obama birth issue, Paul Hollrah over at FSM did so yesterday and believes the issue can be resolved by Obama answering one simple question: What passport did he use when he was shuttling between New York , Jakarta , and Karachi ?

So how did a young man who arrived in New York in early June 1981, without the price of a hotel room in his pocket, suddenly come up with the price of a round-the-world trip just a month later?

And once he was on a plane, shuttling between New York , Jakarta , and Karachi , what passport was he offering when he passed through Customs and Immigration?

The American people not only deserve to have answers to these questions, they must have answers. It makes the debate over Obama's citizenship a rather short and simple one.

Q: Did he travel to Pakistan in 1981, at age 20?

A : Yes, by his own admission.

Q: What passport did he travel under?

A: There are only three possibilities.

1) He traveled with a U.S. .. Passport,

2) He traveled with a British passport, or

3) He traveled with an Indonesia passport.

Q: Is it possible that Obama traveled with a U.S. Passport in 1981?

A: No. It is not possible. Pakistan was on the U.S. .. State Department's "no travel" list in 1981.

Conclusion: When Obama went to Pakistan in 1981 he was traveling either with a British passport or an Indonesian passport.

If he were traveling with a British passport that would provide proof that he was born in Kenya on August 4, 1961, not in Hawaii as he claims. And if he were traveling with an Indonesian passport that would tend to prove that he relinquished whatever previous citizenship he held, British or American, prior to being adopted by his Indonesian step-father in 1967.

Whatever the truth of the matter, the American people need to know how he managed to become a "natural born" American citizen between 1981 and 2008..

Given the destructive nature of his plans for America, as illustrated by his speech before Congress and the disastrous spending plan he has presented to Congress, the sooner we learn the truth of all this, the better.

If you Don't care that Your President is not a natural born Citizen and in Violation of the Constitution, then Delete this, and then lower your American Flag to half-staff, because the U.S. Constitution is already on life-support, and won't survive much longer.

If you do care then Forward this to as many patriotic Americans as you can, because our country is being looted and ransacked!

Frank Sutton

Surely Mr Obama should now de-commission all off- shore oil-drilling around the USA, and cancel plans for any further drilling.

I wonder why he doesn't do to his - could it be because of enormous revenue that off-shore oil brings to the USA, regardless of who is doing the drilling?
BP might like to remind the USA of this...

Kennybhoy

JONNY!

Do you think Tina Fey is in the least bit attractive?

John Richardson

Huuuuum.

My effort, re-Verity, referring to the 'birthers' question was not posted.

Verity is correct.

I have seen two video clips of Obama's wife calling Kenya; carefully, clearly, explicitly, 'his homeland'.
What do you want to see as evidence ?

His passport ?

He refuses to reveal it.

'Insane conspiracy' ?

Why not just call her a racist for asking questions, that would be the usual lazy and cowardly slur...oh...wait a minute....

Kennybhoy

Daragh McDowell wrote:

"Hmmm - Can I warn the other posters here that..."

Just a wee bit condescending there old chap.

".. 'Verity' seems to be what is referred to as a 'birther'"

Oh aye! LOL! But then is this "lunatic" theory any worse than those surrounding former Governor Palin?

Verity

John Richardson - They don't have Tesco's in Texas.

Beer Moth

Watching President Obama recently, I am struck by a sense that he has forgotten the lines to a song he once knew well, and which was his party trick.

Given his now seeming ineptitude, I am puzzled as to the lack of offerings from that army of professional lampooners who made such hay in the sunshine of Presidents Reagan, Bush and Bush.

No cartoons. No spliced-together youtube gigglefests. No BBC guffaws from Merton, Bremner et al.

Message reads?

TGF UKIP

Verity at 3.12pm, I agree with every word but Mr Blackburn why on earth do you take THX 1138 so seriously?

Just as with most of the other stuff that Numberplate posts on here it's nowt more than the caricature Primrose Hill view he feels compelleed to wheel out for a bit of self-validation.

TGF UKIP

Verity, you should cut Mr Blackburn at least a bit of slack. He is very young you know and hence was all too ready to be seduced by Obamamania.

Eighteen months is quite a long time at his age though, and all the signs are that now at least he appears to be learning.

Hysteria

@ 7:58 Verity - nonsense - I think!

The text you quote is from April 2009....this plus other rebuttal information contained here

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/occidental.asp

Verity

TGF UKIP - I've always found David Blackburn courteous and knowledgable, so don't be such a tease. I found the text I referred to earlier and have sent it to him. I hope it goes up because it was from AP, not some untethered loon.

There is a second item below it, uncredited.

But I think these two pieces will probably run in the next post from me. There most assuredly is evidence that Obama got a soft loan, or a grant, to go to college, on his Indonesian passport.

I repeat for the slow class, if he was taken to Indonesia so his mother could marry an Indonesian while he was still too young to have his own passport, then surely when he was old enough to have a passport, his mother would have gone down to the US Embassy - WITH HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE - and applying for one would have been a matter of a few minutes and a couple of weeks' wait. Instead, she got him an Indonesian passport.

Why?

That she had no evidence that the child she wanted a passport for was born in the United States or a military base or other similar official American territory overseas?

What mother in her right mind would apply for a Third World passport for her child when she could have had the top passport in the world?

John Richardson

Verity @ 8:32pm

Oh, she's in Texas !
I didn't realise.

Still.
A deal's a deal.
No Chardonnay. No Barry Citero 'lowdown'.
I think that's only reasonable...after all...it's her country he's destroying.

Kennybhoy

Ye gods Verity! Such prolixity. You really are turning into a distaff David Lindsay!

John Richardson

Ah,
so it's 'Soetoro' not 'Cetoro'.

My un-posted effort explained I did not have time to check the spelling, only having heard the name & not read it.

Wrong spelling.

Correct wine. For a warm evening that is.
Erm...'Hysteria'...?

2trueblue

Obama was barely off the blocks and he found time to scribe a couple of books! They were mostly about himself. Says it all. He is now in the big league and has to learn that he can throw his weight about, but there are penalties. Learn the facts and pick your fights.

When the Alpha rig wnet up I do not remember a witch hunt agains America. 160 odd killed.
Bopal?? What has happened there?? 4,000 plus. As yet there has been very little done to emeliorate the disaster. Why????

The equipment in the latest disaster was ALL American. Obama, careful how you put your stall out.

THX1138

What Birthers Believe - Courtesy of South Park:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u3Ax8UQ9ac

GaryB

BP will recover from this. Obama will not.

Verity

And let us not forget who kicked off Obama's campaign for him in Chicago. None other than former Seventies' FBI's Most Wanted William Ayers and his wife, FBI's Most Wanted Bernadette Dohrn, for murder and terrorism. They kicked Obama's campaign off with a party in their living room in Chicago - both now mysteriously free and respectable despite their having robbed other people of their lives.

It is said that Ayers spotted the not overly-bright (but the with right credentials, i.e., blackish, high cheekbones, exotic background with a black wife) Obama and took over his management and, it is said, wrote "Dreams of My Father" or whatever the hell it's called, for him. Which is credible.

Susan Hill - and for sure Vulture - will know that an unknown foreigner from Africa/Indonesia offering a "dream of" his father is probably not going to find an agent in approximately 8m years. Perhaps longer.

It was the flashy name William Ayers, although sub rosa, that got it a reading.

Three years ago or whatever, I believe I was the first person on the net to write: "This is the Manchurian candidate". Others jumped in.

Mark my words. There is now no USSR, which isn't what this was about anyway. There's another structure in place that has been allowed to nibble away, like rats, at national supremacy. The EUSSR's just part of it.

There is no way that sleazy, not terribly bright, opportunistic rubbish like Obama, who can't say "Hi!" without an autocue, could have, without a lefty-coalition agenda and very large fund-raising capabilities... have, unimaginably, become the President of The United States.

And as much as I loathe Gordon Brown, would a president of the US really have run through the kitchens of a hotel while the PM of Britain pursued him to talk?

And given him a box set of DVDs? In the real world?

There is heft way, way behind Obama - from his birth, his birth certificate, his upbringing in Indonesia, his sudden restoration to "American-born citizen" (despite his apparent belief that there are 57 states in the United States) ... and returning to the land of his birth without a birth certificate but running for President. Contenders are required to prove, through their birth certificates, that they are native born citizens of the United States.

Except Obama, because if you asked for proof that this Kenyan was really American, you would be "racist".

I sincerely don't think Obama has an agenda - mainly because I don't think he's bright enough to figure one our (except if William Ayers has told him what his agenda is), but is an ideal instrument of the left. Perfect! Like his wife's pecs ...

Verity

Obama and William Ayers and gang came in in jackboots calling anyone who thought Obama was a cheap lout a "racist". That's how he got under the wire. The portmanteau word "racist".

I never tire of saying it, and I was the first one to say it on the internet, he is the Manchurian Candidate. The problem for Mr Thickwit (have you ever noticed he can't answer a question on his feet? He needs that autocue with someone else's prescripted response?) is, the day of the Manchurian Candidate is 30 years in the past. It needs a different kind of fly boy today.

Someone with an advance on Tony Blair, who also wouldn't pass muster if he were just starting out today.

At least Tony Blair had a straightforward history in this country, with a real family. A real father with a history as a barrister, etc.

Wispy, thistldown Obama has absolutely no history of any kind. A mother who was apparently a hippiem move-around gal of the age. An opportunistic fellow from Africa who fast talked his way into a degree ... his kid who got a student grant on a foreign passport ...

Do we have any evidence that Obama has ever had an American passport?

My guess ... no. Because once he got safely back to Hawaii from Jakarta he didn't plan, at that point, on ever leaving the US ... until William Ayers thought he might fill the POTUS spot ...

Verity

John Richardson, I know Texas very well, which is why I know that Hysteria cannot run down to your provincial supermarket and pick up a bottle of wotsit for you. But no, I am not in Texas.

2trueblue - 1. I would need to see proof that Obama wrote either of those books. Popular opinion is that William Ayers wrote Dreams of My Father or whatever the hell it's called (did a bookstore ever order it?) for him.

An obscure American semi-black(F)/semi-hippy(M) who lived most of his life in Indonesia is terribly, terriby, terribly unlikely to have found interest from an agent. I am guessing ... only guessing, chaps and chappesses, that they were self-published.

AF

Verity,
Looks like shades of the Manchurian candidate.

AF

GaryB,
Obama will be looking at the main prize
out of this wreckage,namely BP itself,
having first reduced its share value,
business as usual.

Carnot

As an long time employee of the energy and chemicals industry it is clear that Obama knows nothing at all about this problem. Whether or not BP is to blame will be hotly contended. They were the client relying on a US drilling contractor using US equipemnt and a US well completion service company. All are culpable and the most likley cause is a bad cement job and an eagerness to move on. Both the drilling contractor and the cement job contractor better have good documentation because ultimately they are responsible, not BP. They have a duty of care to ensure that the job is done safely and properly and that their equipent works.
Having worked with some American oil companies I doubt that had these been Oil Crop of america they would have done as much as BP. Can you see the head of Exxon spending time on the problem. I doubt it- Exxon would call in the lawyers.
Obama has shown his true colours - a populist idiot full of bullshit.

2trueblue

Verity, don't care if he wrote them or not, he put his name to them, so he carries them. Ego, always needs looking after.

JONNY

You don't have to apologise to us about Sarah Palin, Fergus Pickering.
Just let it all stick out.

dave in dallas

Brits, please be comforted by the fact that, in our polls, the American public is vastly opposed to Obama, is not fooled by his grandstanding at BP's expense, and is doing everything it can to remove power from that man and reverse the direction this government has gone. over 60% of the public wants our 'health care' bill repealed. The majority blames Obama for the worsening damage and bad management of the Gulf, not BP.

chernevik

BP is simply a Big Corporation and a Politically Convenient Target. Obama dislikes the former category, and must attack the latter as a matter of strategic necessity.

Also? They completely screwed the pooch on this, and aren't doing much better on the fix. They lacked the competence to be trusted with offshore drilling.

Yes, Obama dislikes Britain. He's an ideological guy, and prefers the Continent of freedom of markets, less confrontational approaches to terror, and perceived colonial history. None of that matters here. His treatment of BP is completely consistent with his modus operandi re American business.

Drapes of Roth

"Obama dislikes Britain and the British."

Don't take it personally. He feels the same way about America and Americans.

comatus

Were Mr. Hayward to take a page from Obama's book and simply blame his predecessor, he'd actually be on firmer moral ground than the President. There is the added rhetorical nicety that he'd be telling the truth. Worth a try?

Daragh McDowell

"Obama refused to have his birth certificate released.

Why?"

Ummm, he in fact did. Its called a certificate of Live Birth, which the Birthers declared insufficient. They want to see the so-called 'Long Form' certificate that is held by state archives and not for public release. If you need further proof, you can see the announcement in the local newspaper on the date of his birth back in 1961. And why, pray tell, should a man release these documents to appease the demands of the birthers? There's already overwhelming evidence, that yes Obama was born in America. But the conspiracy theorist at every step declares that these are somehow insufficient, and evidence of a wider plot. That's because they're fundamentally irrational - they WANT to believe Obama wasn't born in the US, and video-taped, time-stamped recording of his actual birth with a US flag flying overhead wouldn't convince them otherwise.

Yep, I'm a little new here. But I find the Speccie a respectable organ of conservative thought, even if I often disagree with it. I find it disturbing that its readers would engage with someone trafficking in one of the most obvious and cartoonishly racist conspiracy theories rather than simply ignoring them. Which I shall do from now on.

ClydeS

Obama's no Stephen Strasburg; he definitely has NOT lived up to the hype.

Steevo

Most of us conservative/libertarian in the States easily knew what Obama was and wasn't from his own history. Most Brits didn't care, like our Left and folks buying "change". You hated Hitler-Bush. You hated being his "poodle dog".

Keep in mind... don't sink into that rather easy propensity so many of you have: anti-American prejudice. This man we have in office has been more yours than ours.

Also keep in mind, BP is not you. Exxon/Mobile is not us. Can you understand?

One more thing, you're in Afghanistan not because Brown and now Cameron are Obama's poodle dogs. Nonsense. They like we want troops there to stop the rebuilding of bases and substantial capabilities of terrorism bringing right back here, period.

Quite your endless blame-games and own up. You are the generation who have disowned Great Britain determined to be Great Victim.

moptop

There is a reason that our constitution demands that the president be a natural born US citizen. Barack Obama brings a resentment of the UK to the job based on how the UK treated his Kenyan father. It is the very kind of dual loyalty that the provision was intended to avoid.

Has anybody told that moron Paul McCartney that Obama hates the UK? His first act in office was to send the bust of Winston Churchill on the desk in the WH in a cab back to your embassy.

JB

I won't apologize, because I didn't vote for him. But I don't understand why anyone expected anything else from this empty suit.

Jay Lewis

"Obama dislikes Britain and the British."
-He doesn't like America and the Americans much, either.
"And don't forget that in the FIRST Gulf War..."
-There's no good reason to make this into a quarrel between Americans and Britons. However lame may be our politicians, you're still our best friends and most valued allies.

Verity

Daragh McDowell - Sorry, but you're not up to the standard we require of our trolls around here. Bugger off, there's a good, if deeply turgid, little leftoid.

Verity

MopTop - Yes, we all sit around waiting for pearls of political wisdom to drop from Paul McCartney's mouth.

Estarcatus

>Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, as much as >anything else, specifically anti-British >acts.

One sees many strange and ridiculous things on the Interwebz, but with this, we may have scaled new heights.

As Python might say....And now for something *completely* different. The quality of the scholarship in this post leaves a bit to, ah, desired.

Old Dad

Dear Brits:

I don't blame you for being angry. There will be time to sort it all out, but right now we are in one helluva mess, and our government (maybe yours too?) tends to screw up anything it touches. Individual Americans are beginning to wake up to this fact. Citizens are beginning to take matters into their own hands down on the Gulf, and we'll continue the clean up at the ballot box in November.

Just know that the American people stand with you, regardless of the nonsense that sometimes comes out of Washington. At the end of the day, BP will have to settle up, but right now, we don't even know the the root cause of the spill. Calm heads will find out once the spill is contained. Today, some are furious with BP, especially those who have lost their jobs and maybe even their homes, but we will work it out. Calm heads don't want BP to go belly up. So hang tough. We know you Brits have our backs, and know that we workaday Americans out here in fly over country have yours.

Estarcatus

>Daragh McDowell - Sorry, but you're not up to >the standard we require of our trolls around >here.

Sir, if you are the standard by which non-trollers are judged, I am not sure that what you say is quite the insult you believe it may be.

Dagney77

Obama's incompetence is terrifying. The man should resign. Biden is an idiot but couldn't be worse than Barry.

Daragh McDowell

Veritas - who died and made you forum moderator? And as Estarcatus says, coming from a birther, being called a 'troll' is something of a compliment.

JONNY

Cheer up Coffee Housers.
There's always Bruv Jeb in the wings.
And he's at least fifty times brighter than Dubya, which would still make him 75 times more stupid than Obama.

JONNY

I think I'm getting there at last.
BP have buggered up The Gulf.
So it stands to reason it's Obama wot dunnit. (Not least by fiddling
his birth certificate).

Verity

Estarcatus - hurt pride?

An American Motorist

Not to worry. BP will not disappear from the US. I've been a buyer of BP products for years and will remain so long after this odd lunatic-clown POTUS is forgotten. There are millions of others like me.

Kennybhoy

Old Dad,

God bless you sir. And God bless America!

Bert

Vulture,

I take exception to your comment that President Obama doesn't know where his arse is. He certainly does! But before he could kick it, he would have to pull his head out first.

M

I'm sorry, Britain, but you wanted this guy. Now you have him. BP donated to his campaign and his administration gave them waivers. How many British people donated to his campaign when they turned off address verification? We were certainly hectored from all over Europe that if we didn't elect him we would be shunned and treated (more) like dirt.

I'm not exactly saying you get what you deserve, but maybe next time, Europe can, you know, stay out of our election process and let us pick the damned American president?

Bill Johnson

Just remember, you Brits overwhelmingly wanted this guy as our president. Now you complain about getting what you wanted. Perhaps if you just limited yourself to your own politicians...

Please note that I agree 1000000000000000 percent, as it were, with the author - but still, go play in your own pond.

Amos

A few things:

1. Worthy article. Thank you.

2. The nukes in Japan were not about London. They were about Berlin and Tokyo, which were around when the Manhattan Project started, and about Moscow. They were also about Washington, D.C., Campden, Boise, and big cities and small towns across America that were tired to seeing their sons sail off to the other side of the planet only to be turned into hamburger on some inhospitable rock in the middle of the Pacific.

3. Remember that nearly 48% of Americans did not favor Mr. Obama - and that was with the cover-ups, deceptions and lies put out by the majority of our media.

4. Most of us have only affection for your sacrifice. Those who are not thankful for your sacrifice are not thankful for anyone's sacrifice, including their neighbors' sons.

5. It's true that America is on some fundamental level anti-British. But at this point in history it's more in the way that you're anti- your brother or your sister. We're just not you. But we recognize you as family in a way that we do not even for the Canadians who are our top hat.

What we are not in spectacular fashion, however, is Brussels, Paris, and the like. America is anti- everyone, in no small part because for most of our history, the world our forebears fled, was anti-American.

We're the uncivilized mongrels, remember? (Most of us happen to like it that way. Purebred is just an expensive word for inbred.)

The ideological heritage from which Obama comes does not. The Serfdom of Obama's collectivism (and you're own) is merely a different suit on the same rotting body of your Medieval past. Obama and his ilk merely see themselves as the intellectual aristocracy tasked by God or Lenin to govern us plebes and proles. Otherwise, the mechanics are pretty much the same.

Which is why you and Europe supported him.

skink

Well, well, well, the guy you Euros wanted as president isn't working out quite as anticipated? Heaven forfend!

I thought that replacing that stupid cowboy Bush with a thoughtful, brilliant, "progressive" like Obama was going to rehabilitate the troglodyte USA. And Obama is "diverse" too, which was cause for even more swooning in Europe (land of the whitest leadership in the west). And, yes, I include the UK in Europe.

How's that hope and change working out for you? How's that utter lack of executive experience doing?

The great thing about all this is that while you folks whine about how BP is being treated, the politician who BP donated the most money to was......drum roll......Barack Obama!

BP paid loads of cash to see this guy elected. Now who's the dupe?

He's a left wing idealogue who knows, and cares little about Europe, including, and especially, your dear little island nation.

Being a collectivist, he dislikes capitalism and sees democracy as an obstacle to his re-making America, which he also dislikes, in his image. And the leaders in his administration reflect his viewpoint.

And everyone was swooning over how SMART these people are. Why they all went to Harvard, and Yale, and Princeton!

Isn't it interesting that The One is willing to meet, without preconditions, with the likes of Ahmadinijad and other tin pot dictators, but won't meet with Tony Hayward.

How many of you Brits actually donated to this guy's campaign? It was illegal to do so, but you did because the Obama campaign disabled credit card checks on their software and didn't require verification of citizenship status, unlike the McCain campaign and the Clinton campaign.

You wanted him, you got him. Enjoy. And as we say over here, "Kwitcherbitchin".

JONNY

I'm sorry too M
but it was you who voted for him - in your millions

Verity

Daragh McDowell -Sorry, sweets, but I don't accept being defined by the shrill and over-excitable American left. You were the ones who were mad for Obama. The grown-ups think you got what you deserve.

Eric R.

As Larry Kudlow (a prominent conservative economist in the USA and former Reagan advisor) has pointed out, the real moral bankruptcy of BP is not the oil spill.

It is its enthusiastic dealings with Iran. They give money to exterminate us Jews. Yes, I know you Brits (even those at the Telegraph, Observer, Times, Daily Mail, etc.) think that is a good thing, but Americans overwhelmingly don't.

And when Mr. Hayward testifies in front of Congress, rest assured the Republicans will hit him on his support of genocidal (Islamo)Nazis every bit as much as for the oil spill (where frankly, I figure BP is doing everyting it can do.)

Eric R.

Oh, and if you Brits are pissed now, it is nothing compared to what you will be at 1700 EST on 6/12, when we repeat our upset of 1950.

Verity

Skink, Amos and M, who, oddly enough, write identically (it's a miracle!), note that the socialists/commies were, of course, pro one of their own, but the majority of people were either hoping for a miracle, via McCain, or, frankly, didn't give a stuff either way.

You overestimate the allure of American politics.

JONNY

You've got a problem Mr Skink.
Contrary to opinions expressed here, there is still a very strong approval rating of President Obama in the Old Country.
To coin a cockney saying he still 'goes down a treat'.
Frightfully sorry and all that.

Jeff

As an American, I find some of the comments here a bit surprising, and maybe a little alarming.

First of all, I can't stand Obama. To David's point, I do think he is anti-British, anti-Democracy, ant-Free Market, and anti-JustAboutAnythingElseGoodInTheOccident.

That said, do not confuse Obama's and Leftist American's anti-AllThat with the majority's attitude toward Britain. As one writer noted, the US looks out for American interests like Britain looks out for British interests. These days, not very well. None of what Obama has done, and roughly half of what Bush did was within American interests. We don't all agree on what those things are, but nevertheless..

But Americans, particularly conservatives in America, are very much pro-British. We understand accidents happen, and in fact, were likely in this case. Liberals in America, which hopefully there will be fewer of this fall, don't get that. They want to crucify BP, and every other oil company, British or otherwise, right along with it.

There in fact is a "Special Relationship", or at least has been until recently. But make no mistake, we are separate nations. We do have separate interests, and cannot be expected to weigh all decisions based on their impact on the British. And I wouldn't expect anything like that from the British either.

I remember the Falkland issue well. Most, if not all Americans I knew, were completely on the side of the Brits. And even today, conservatives in America fully support the right of the people of the Falklands to remain under British authority if they choose. That's as it should be. And if Obama is against you, I couldn't be more apologetic. But this is the same man who sided with the Marxist/Authoritarian candidate in the recent ugliness in central America, much to the pleasure of Hugo Chavez.

As for WWII, please. Did we come late, yes. But keep in mind there was much more at stake for the US than you may be considering. It wasn't as simple as "A friend is in trouble, let's cast ourselves into the bloodiest confrontation in human history." It was a hard decision, and a tragic time. We were slow to wake up, but we did. And we lost a lot of blood over there, side by side with people we regarded as friends, and still do.

As for someone's completely uncalled for and disgusting comment about more Brits being killed by Americans in the first gulf war, you are an ignorant wretch. You must be a lawyer.

RebeccaH

Trust me, Barack Obama is a humiliation and an embarrassment for vast swathes of the American public. If this clueless goon wins reelection in 2012, then we deserve everything that happens to us, but unfortunately, the rest of the world will suffer too.

Daragh McDowell

Verity - Not American I'm afraid. Daragh's an Irish name. And if you don't want to be defined as a 'birther' - that is someone who traffics in the conspiracy theory that Obama was born outside of the US, despite all evidence to the contrary - I would suggest not promoting the conspiracy. Just sayin'.

Edward Sutherland

M, Bill Johnson, Skink and any other Americans who maintain we Brits/Euros all wanted Obama as president. Just remember you are blogging on the Spectator website, so quite a number of us, myself very much included, were pretty disappointed at the Obama victory. Nearly felt as low as when that charlatan Blair was first elected in May '97.

JONNY

Sorry ReccaH
but most people over here think your old friend Dubya is the 'clueless goon' to end all 'clueless goons'. No competition. And his disastrous 8-year testament is still with us today.
Please inform us why is it you Americans can only elect clueless goons as President.

M

Jonny, *I* did not vote for him. I saw him for the fraud he is. And you're correct, the bulk of the "blame" goes to the Americans who voted for him. But Europeans get at least a tiny bit of credit for his election because their moral posturing during the campaign, and quite a bit of credit for it because of the loads of money they dropped on him.

And for the record, I am a fairly pro-British American. And I'd like everyone to wait to pillory BP until there have been some actual investigations. If and when it's proven they did something criminal or stupid, then by all means, punish them. But Obama's desire to "kick some ***" without knowing everything seriously disturbs me.

It should disturb all of you.

Amos

Verity: ah, the phantom sock-puppet.

Your reading comprehension is deplorable. M is much less verbose than I am, and Skink employs more sarcasm. Read it all again more slowly - use your lips if you must - and you'll see the obvious.

That we hold something of the same position is not evidence that we are the same person.

That said, if American politics fails to allure, why is it that a fair number of Brits wanted the right to vote in American elections - given the "disparate impact" America has on the world? And why, pray tell, are we even here at this column?

As far as the minutiae - who's up in Nevada, for example - we Americans are surprised anyone over there would understand or care. But then, we don't get upset about your lack of understanding at what goes on within our states at all, and certainly not in the way Continentals and Brits complain about the way Americans are ignorant about what goes on in places like Luxembourg, Scotland and Estonia.

To the extent that either of us is disinterested in one another's politics, rest assured, the feeling is probably as close to mutual as one might imagine.

The only reason, for example, that I know who Daniel Hannon is, is because he's not a leftist-collectivist fool who thinks Progress means wrapping ancient stupidity in fresh pretension.

Given the general direction of UK and Continental politics, that's a breath of fresh air.

Amos

Jeff, let's remember a couple of things.

1. The first great war was the sole product of European idiocy. It opened the door for the second wave of European idiocy: the age of ideology. It was they - not us - who invented Socialism, Communism, Fascism and Nazism. So if we were late, we were late because holy crap how the hell did you enlightened Europeans screw this up so badly?

2. They did lose a lot more blood there than we did. But then, you'd think that would have created more realists and less collectivists. It didn't. They just have lower heart rates now.

3. When we were done helping them fix what they created, we took our boys in Europe and sent them around the world to fight the other half of the mess. And we did that largely alone. They weren't just late to that fight. They were absent.

4. We have spent many billions of dollars over the last 60 years shielding them from the logical outcome of the stupid ideas they were so hot for 100 years ago. (And are still apologists for today.) So while we've got money going out to defend them, they got to put their money into all that pretty infrastructure. You can build a lot of nifty trains with hundreds of billions of dollars over several generations. It's akin to the spoiled, ungrateful American teenager who drives a nice car while his parents work two jobs a piece.

5. None of it will matter anyway. The sadistic, masochistic, suicidal impulses of leftist-collectivism will mean that eventually Europe will be conquered by Islam. It will all have been for naught.

Verity

Amos writes of the Brits: "why is it that a fair number of Brits wanted the right to vote in American elections?"

They did?

I'm a Brit and I never wanted to right to vote in US elections, despite having lived there long enough to have got citizenship if I'd wanted it.

Menderman

Didn't Obama send the bust of Winston Churchill back to y'all? Didn't he give the Queen an I-Pod with his own specces? Didn't he give Gordon Brown a DVD set of American movies that don't work over there? He seems to dislike Brits as much as he dislikes us Americans. You can guess I did not vote for him.

Jeff

@Amos - I'm with you on all of that for the most part. My point, similar to yours, was to remind my British friends of that we are in fact their friends, the BP fiasco notwithstanding. But reminding a friend how indebted they are to you seems a little, well, unfriendly to me.

If this were a French magazine, I might well be ready to unload the "we saved your froggy ass" stuff, but not on the British. They do not, and have never regarded themselves as Europeans, and that is a tremendous asset. Liberalism has had its impact of late on both nations. Let's hope things turn around.

John Savage

I am disappointed about your comments concerning BP and Obama’s reaction to the oil spill.

Look I don’t really know what happened (and nor do you come to that) but it appears that BP or it’s contractors were very cavalier about security and fail safe features. There is however no doubt that the oil spill is massive and eleven people lost their lives. I think that under the circumstances Obama has been quite restrained in his comments. What did you expect him to say? “Oops, well I guess accidents happen!” and leave it at that.

As to being anti-British I don’t know what you mean. I am English and live in Canada. We get both the Canadian and US news here and I don’t detect any anti-British attitude at all. Perhaps you can give some examples. And please don’t refer to non-related issues such as removing the bust of Winston Churchill. I would like examples related to this specific issue. On the other hand I am shocked at the casual anti-American attitude that seems to be prevalent throughout the UK.

I was spending quite a lot of time in the US during the Falklands war and there was no doubt that most people were supportive of the UK. You quote Obama as saying “Argentina has a right to the Falkland Islands”. When did he say this? I certainly haven’t read of him saying anything like that. I think you will find that the US reacted to the rhetoric from Argentina by saying that it was an issue between Argentina and the UK but if required they would facilitate talks. What is wrong with that?

As regards Iraq and Afghanistan, it seems to me that the politicians in the UK were extremely keen on getting into a fight and hardly needed to be pushed by the US. Dodgy dossiers anyone?

Finally, it is difficult to think of a more clumsy and cack-handed approach to this tragedy than shown by Tony Hayward. If there are any strains of anti-Britishness look to him for the reason. How on earth did he get his job? Personally I don’t think he is capable of running a gas station let alone BP.

Verity

Daragh McDowell - "And if you don't want to be defined as a 'birther' ..." Why would I care how a commie defines me? Why would I care if a dog barks when I pass it?

Kennybhoy

Fergus Pickering spewed out:

"Meanwhile I was thinking of marketing stars-and-stripes toilet paper. And don't forget that in the FIRST Gulf War, more British soldiers were killed by Americans than by anybody else."

Absolute mentula.

JONNY

But M
people over here hate the fat cats of the oil business - outstandingly BP. Just because it has British in its name it doesn't mean we back it. Its operations in Africa and elsewhere are nothing short of inhumane and evil. In the UK it backs cartels that screw the motorist.
So if Obama wants to kick BP's ass we'll stick James Bond daggers in the point of his boot.
But the main point is this: I hear no criticism of Obama over here. He is still our favourite President. Sorry, but that's how it is. You must understand it takes time to recover from the grotesque phenomenon of George W Bush.

Kennybhoy

Amos,

Regarding your paragraphs 3 and 4. All true. But in the case of Great Britain, consider it payback for the hundred and fifty years during which the British Empire and Royal Navy created the conditions which allowed the Great Republic grew to maturity. Nobody likes the world's policeman, particularly a benign one. LOL

Lester Dent

Please don't judge Americans by President Obama. An overwhelming majority of American love and respect our British parentage, and Churchill remains a beloved icon for most of us representing the strength, tenacity, courage and dignity of the British people. We have been repeatedly disgraced by this administration in dealing with our oldest and most important ally, from the gratuitous return of the Churchill bust to the Region 1 DvD set to the lese majeste of repeated affronts to the Queen. When this translates to real-world impact like with the Falklands, it goes beyond boorish behavior (behaviour?) and enters the realm of betrayal. While a small segment of the US feels we need to reject traditional friends to embrace dictators and fanatics, the majority of Americans know who our real friends are. From the English Common Law that informs our federal and state laws (except francophile Louisiana!) to our (corrupted!) language to our architecture, our society remains based upon the sire we first pulled away from, then embraced as our only natural ally.

Amos

@Jeff. You are absolutely right. My sincere apologies. That was ugly of me.

As I said before that last salvo, I really do have little but affection for the British, and thought Red Diaper Messiah had been treating them horribly all along.

(The Won's missing daddy was no fan of the UK, either.)

I do get plenty tired of hearing that America is a nation of imperialistic, bloodthirsty savages, however. Particularly given that, except for early and obviously ugly adventures in colonialism (Philippines...), our "imperialistic" operations tend to cost us lives and treasure, and are assumed to do so from the outset.

The GDP of Iraq, if converted to pure wealth and sucked up whole into a tornado to be deposited into a basement in Crawford, Texas would power our economy for about three days. You cannot, honestly, argue out of one side of your mouth that we are imperialistic and then argue out of the other that Iraq and Afghanistan are bankrupting the country.

Moreover, we tend to moderate passions here, on balance. Our dedication to free markets and individual liberty are derided on the Continent as "right-wing" when, if they weren't so blinkered by their leftist sentiments, they'd realize that free markets mean that people left and right are free to do as they please (by all means, if you can start a volunteer collectivist HMO that will outperform our "market" ones, have at it: I will not stop you), and that the right of the citizens to bear arms (as a popular example) means that we never have to shoot our way out of a left- or right-wing Warsaw Ghetto.

jake kennedy

Interesting piece. I believe BP is doing all it can to address the crisis. BP has taken full responsibility and has actually devised some resourceful ways of addressing the problem. The vilification of BP is misdirected and valueless. BP and the other companies involved satisfied govt regulations and numerous inspections. Unfortunately, even the most remotely expected risk infrequently happens. Let history be the judge of BP, for their current actions seem geniune and productive. Imagine if the spill was caused by some company that immediately filed for bankruptcy and left the clean up to the government. My bet is that BP would yield better results. Give BP credit for taking ownership of the spill and the actions it has taken to date. Good Luck BP.

Edward Sutherland

Lester Dent: Great post-and good to know the UK still has friends in the States. Don't get us wrong: no one over here doubts that BP has made grievous mistakes, which will, rightly, cost the company,its employees and share(stock)holders dear. But the President's intemperate words and actions risk destroying the company, which will do no one any good, least of all those entitled to compensation and remediation.We know the CEO has made some crass statements, which may well cost him his job, but at least the President could accept the sincerity of Hayward's efforts to right the damage done.

General Zod

Fraser, you may be just giving Verity enough rope, but this kind of rubbish on here makes a mockery of a serious publication's blog.

Obama is behaving in a petulant manner because he is desparate to shore up his ratings, but that does not excuse this pathetic and desperate stirring up of drivel.

Tom from California via Michiga

I'm an American who agrees wholeheartedly with this article. Our President is, unfortunately, once again putting his political gain ahead of the interests of our country, the western world, and the capitalist system that has created the wealth and freedom we all (still) enjoy.

Chris Hazzing

BP has a reputation for cutting corners to save money and for unsafe work practices. The US Administration is full of idiots and the people directly responsible for the lack of oversight of BP, were corrupt, weak, idiots and morons. But they are not Obama and no matter how bad Obama is, and he is really really awful, he is not confusing BP with the UK or the British people. BP is a corporation run by cheap evil lying scum. The corporate officers established a climate of do it fast and dirty and damn the consequences and irresponsible pieces of dung masquerading as human beings should not be defended by the UK government or by the Spectator. They bring dishonor on everyone they associate with.

Atlanticist

I suspect that the vituperativeness of President Obama's criticism of BP and reticence about his own academic record both reflect a sense of inadequacy.

Stuart Seacole Smith

Some pretty OTT comments on BP by Chris Hazzing above! BP is far from perfect of course, but no worse or better than other top-level oil firms I don't think. Needless to say, the accident and ongoing spill is truly awful and a matter of deep regret for everybody concerned.

Obama has clearly been stung into over-reaction by personal criticism (though for the life of me, I'm not quite sure what he was supposed to have done), and fears related to forthcoming US elections.

But an over-reaction it most certainly is. It's left him looking less than statesman-like.

And like it or not, the fact that BP is British rather than a US company does matter. Portrayal of the accident and its aftermath as "an affront to the american people" is much easier when pointing the finger abroad.

Any foreign company would have been in for a kicking for a spill like this. But a British one especially: Brown's comedy-capers chasing Obama for a few words, Churchill's bust, H. Clinton's dissembling over the Falklands, rude WH official briefings to UK journos - none really significant on their own, but taken together they're clearly indicative of mind-set.

I just hope Cameron doesn't embarass himself with too much hand wringing lap-doggery when he meets Obama next. But he probably will.

yank

My, so much whining! One thing many sensible Americans detest, and it's a whiner like you. Buck up, lad. Churchill was much as David Lindsay above describes, often malevolent and destructive, but he's admired here by many because he WASN'T a whiner. That should tell you something about us, and hopefully about you.

I'm amused that the writer reflexively embraces this multinational corporation, BP, and identifies it with a single nationality. And from there, it's just a short hop to all the whining.

BP failed to comply with industry standards. They must pay the consequences, however clumsily that is communicated to them. If your response to that is to whine, then we may easily dismiss your view, and will. BP may rightly be turned up by their heels and shook down to the last farthing, or whatever denomination you're quoting these days, and their carcass may then be thrown into the sea, including that insufferable blowhard Heyward, he the whiner-in-chief. We'll be rid of Obama in 2 years, will BP rid us all of their dreck?

And speaking of Obama, you Euros seemed to relish his awful personna just a short while ago, and many of you still do. Perhaps you should take your eyes off US politicians, and focus on your own welfare-state-produced ramshackle lot. Particularly you Brits, who've pretty much made a hash of Empire dissolution these last 150 years or so, and you might look to Africa and the Mideast and Asia if you require confirmation of same. South and Central America ain't all that, but pound for pound, it's come along better than the Euro colonies, that's for sure.

Much as I think US foreign policy is misguided these last 100 years, it beats hell out of the mad scramblings of a bunch of tired old inbred and elitist imperialists. The 30 years war last century is laid directly onto your footstep, with all of its wealth and human destruction, including ours, unfortunately. So, we had to garrison and fund 3/4M troops over there, to stand hostage for a 1/2 century, to deter you Euros from your favorite pasttime... killing each other. And one nation above all encouraged this madness... the one that thirsted for an even-then ancient empire.

Just couldn't let it go, could you? And now, barely able to hang onto a colony in the frozen South Atlantic, you're whining at somebody else as the culprit? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Look, I don't want US troops in the UK any more than you do, but since they are, and as you seem incapable of either defending yourself or making peace with your enemies, and since you're too busy whining to resolve matters, why don't you pop on by one of our bases and shine some of our boots... and make yourself useful.

And if you don't want troops in Afghanistan or Iraq, don't whine about it, DO something about it. I can tell you, you won't do much with your whining. Even your betters in Brit government know you might be safely ignnored, and camera-spied upon, or bought off with social welfare, so as to cow any sense of spirit required to bring off structural change.

How sad you are. We owe so much to you. Language, literature, law, we literally sprang from you. But today, you are something other, something foreign. It's ironic that you both embrace the "foreigner" Obama, but also whine about him. That describes the status over there, imo.

We'll rid ourselves of our "foreigner" shortly, and fence him in in the meantime even sooner, but what will you do? Embrace Obama and BP, the 2 lovemates? Those are 2 losers. They are both going down. Get right with that, and you might get right with a whole lot more.

Change it. We love you, but you're a mess right now. We're desperately trying to follow you in your mess, as we've always done it seems, but you might lead us all into better days. You won't do it by whining.

tewkewl

I am american and I couldn't agree more with Mr. Blackburn's analysis. Mr. Obama has done nothing but disrespect our closest allies while doing everything possible to court our enemies. Unclenching your fist towards your enemies is one thing, but doing it at the expense of your closest allies is unforgivable. Mr. Obama is a marxist. He will always take the side of the "oppressed proletariat" or the minority. He is partial to Argentina because they are a Latin American Country and he personally feels that british "occupation" of a land so close to Latin America is imperialistic. As far as his giving back the bust of Churchill - America has never had a better friend than Sir Winston (well perhaps thatcher is right up there as well... the tight bond between thatcher and reagan was critical in bringing down the soviets)... The under-the-hood reason for giving back the bust of Churchill is because he and Churchill are ideological polar opposites. Churchill was an avid anti marxist whereas Obama is a marxist icon. We'd all be speaking german and japanese if it weren't for the strong alliance between FDR and Churchill.

Obama was always an amateur. I did not vote for him. He had no executive experience and was (and is) not qualified to pick up the red phone at 2am. He is no showing his ineptitude. See Mr. Obama, being president is not about saying grand things and looking pretty. You must act and act like a man.

Although the world hated Bush, he was an honorable man. He quit golfing after afghanistan started erupting because he said it was inappropriate for him to be off enjoying leisurely golfing when men he commands were on the battlefield risking their lives. He has refused to comment on Obama time and time again saying "I had my time, he has his. It's not appropriate for a past president to comment on a sitting president". You cannot by that kind of class. And all of his vacations were working vacations where he brought his staff with him.

In contrast, Obama continues to golf and play basket ball while his troops sleep in the dirt and eating cold food... not to mention risking life and limb. He takes airforce one to New York for "date night" with his wife while America struggles to pay the bills in a recession. He has dinner parties at the white house inviting his friends and supporters while America struggles to put food on its dinner tables...

I have never seen such elitist hypocrisy in all my life. This is tantamount to Kim Jeong Il living in luxury while his people starve.

And then he has the gall to feign outrage (a month and a half after the fact) at the oil spill.

BP is a company, they can pay dividends to whom the want with the profit they've made. You cannot tell them not to. They employee some 30 odd thousand americans. If you want BP to fail, then 30K more americans lose their jobs. See mr. obama, you see companies as some monolithic entity that is out there to gobble up money and oppress people. the fact is that companies are made up of people whom the pay. That pay improves these peoples lives and gives them ability to consume products which help grow the economy.

Obama is done in 2 years. He was always an amateur. I hope we are prudent in this country, and select a president not based on hysteria, but qualifications.

To the British: Americans never forget their roots. The Britain gave America her roots, everything from language, to culture, to shared common values come from Britain. Honestly, if the colonies had gotten representation in Parliament like they wanted the world might look different today. But Providence had different ideas.

Craig - Atlanta, GA - USA

As an American, I LOVED this article. The British are telling it how it is and saying what American Media Outlets, minus Fox News, are afraid to say. Obama is the worst President since Jimmy Carter, and he was so bad we are still effected by his ignorance today.

Richard

I can't understand how the Yanks can order/stop a British company paying a dividend if it decides to do so. It would be different if BP was an American company.
What would happen if the UK government was to tell a US company that it couldn't pay a dividend!
This is typical American Imperialism.
This is not to say that BP shouldn't pay for the problems it has caused, along with its American Sub-contractors.

yank

Well, I doubt the US government can order any company to withhold a dividend, although a court may be able to do so. They'd do so if they thought there a risk that BP was about to go insolvent, and was cleaning out the treasury in preparation for the event.

BP and its cast of incompetents and familiars let it squeak out the other day that BP could go bankrupt, and the call for a dividend hold is the natural outcome of that stupidity.

Again, I'd suggest you Brits cut this lot loose. They deserve only scorn, from all.

phil

I supported Obama's right to show what he could do as President from the moment Mr Mcain began to show to me that he was not the man for the job ,something that pained me .I also said I would admit on these pages if I was proved wrong ,and I do so here .This man has proved a disaster both on foreign policy and his disgraceful handling of the problem with BP .I agree with his attempts to bring in the health policy but I can find nothing else that he does that enhances either the USA or the world in general .Iran thumbs its nose at him ,The ME peace process is in a shambles ,mostly I believe because of his unclear messages,Bush for all his faults at least made it clear where he stood .(please no jokes :))
-------------------
Americans that I know tell me he will be out at the next election .I hope they are right .As for David Cameron ,I have to really wonder what he is up to ,is there something we do not know ?This seems to me a cowardly way for a PM to act in defence of our interests ,but I will await a proper explanation .

Stuart Seacole Smith

Well hot diggety dang yank! (June 10 4.47)

You've got a few decent points in amongst all your ranting. That the UK and EU are in a mess, well, I think you'd find few here that would disagree with you. And the UK just blew an opportunity for clear leadership at the last election, so much as I dislike it, things aren't looking good in terms of "fixing it" as far as I can see.

Amusing that you should berate us British for too much whining... by means of a master-class whine.

Anyway, here's an Aussie joke that you might like:

Q How do you know when a plane-load of poms has just arrived?

A Coz when they turn the engines off, it keeps on whining!

DJPNZ

The US really doesn't get it, does it. Their corporations stride the globe and in their wake, leave a trail of ecological disaster for which there is no comeback for the local population, no compensation, in most cases- the Niger Delta, Ecuador and Bhopal, to name but a few - not even an apology.

Contrast this to the way in which BP has fronted up, already compensated victims, paid for the clean up efforts and has made a clear commitment to stay at it until the job is done properly. No hiding behind legal niceties and in the full glare of the US media.

The hypocrisy is this, take the Niger Delta disaster, it's of a magnitude that dwarfs the Gulf of Mexico, but for those whose livelihoods have been destroyed and their lives ripped apart, there's no luxury of complaining that compensation is taking too long - there simply isn't any. And, what about the compensation to 15,000 people who died and the 500,000 who were harmed as a result of Bhopal? Years of legal arguments, an out of court settlement and a miserly and immoral US$475m.

The US only is not interested in anyone else's plight than their own. For years Britain endured the murderous activities of the IRA but the USA didn't butt an eye lid. Apparently, according to one American I know, real terrorism only started on 9/11, everything that any other nation had endured before that was irrelevant.

So, it's difficult not to feel sick at those images we see of the devastation to livelihoods and wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico, whilst feel disgust at the hypocrisy of the Americans for complaining that BP isn't doing enough.

Part of the cause for the scale of this disaster lies in the fact that the US lust for oil is so big, that it must be extracted at ever increasing rates of delivery. Indeed, the US consumes 21 billion barrels per day, that is the entire daily consumption of China, Japan, India, Russia and Germany.

For that reason, perhaps that's why drilling was allowed in areas of ecological sensitivity. It doesn't explain though why US regulatory authorities and their watchdogs did not stop BP and its partners from breaking the rules, if that is indeed what they did. Furthermore, why didn't the Federal and State governments plan for a worst case scenario oil leak in the area and prepare adequate resources to deal with it. None of these things can be laid at BPs feet.

Interestingly. there are two more leaks that have been admitted to in the Gulf of Mexico, that have nothing to do with the Deepwater Horizon platform. Have we heard anything about them? No. What's being done? Not a lot. Is BP being penalised because of these? Probably.

Obama has set his guns on the UK, there's very little to lose by standing up to him. Things are going to get a lot more sour, for sure, so why carry on the pretence any longe

yank

SSS,

Yeah, if the yanks/Oz ever stop whining about the limeys'/poms' whining, you'll know things have gone seriously off the rails!

Ivor Johnson

Obama trusted BP`s estimates in the first week that this was a 5000 barrel per day spill, and that they would be able to shut down the leak quickly. BP lied straghtfaced to Obama and lied to the world and kept lying even after CNN outed them on the estimates on oil spilling out. Then to add insult to injury, BP poured a million gallons of highly toxic dispersant into the Gulf, which created underwater poison plumes that kill everything in their path. BP did this over the objections of Louisiana Governor Jindall. BP could have used a non toxic dispersant, but they chose to use the worst thing possible because it was marginally cheaper, then BP lied about its toxicity and the formation of the underwater plumes. Then they hired 400 one day temporary workers to stand around the beach and look busy, so the BP chairman could film his mea culpa advertisement. Obama is rightfully furious at BP and their lies, and the American people are furious. But nobody here hates or blames the British people for the actions of a big, arrogant corporation. Readers of the Spectator should never conflate the corporation British Petroleum with the British people or the British government. By the way, the people of the UK are lucky the rig that failed was not off your shores, or you would be losing all your fisheries, your birds, and your beaches right now, while BP officials would engage in smarmy handwringing and untruthful denials. Obama is not a good president, in fact he sucks, but BP deserves every criticism they receive.

jeff

Who wrote this drivel,President Obama has done more for the working middle class then 3 out of the last 4 people to occupy that office. We need to put and end to the corporatist s in this country and grow our economy for the benefit of the workers not the greedy would be masters!