Lessons from the US
President Obama has been criticised for taking too long to act over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The vigour with which President Obama has been beating the drum about what BP should have done and should now do regarding the disastrous rig blow-out in the US Gulf is a sight to behold.
While it is recognised that this is an environmental disaster of huge proportions with damaging consequences for diverse local businesses and inhabitants, I venture to suggest that there is something moving towards distasteful in how Obama has been prepared to sacrifice a great company like BP on the altar of political expediency.
The great American public were quick to point out that Obama had been slow to react to the disaster. Obama saw the “train” heading directly towards him too late but when he did see it was savvy enough to realise this major incident could be his nemesis. Doubtless he saw shades of George Bush’s experience with the New Orleans floods and the price he paid for not being fleet of foot to help the people of New Orleans. And so it began; the BP beating. Not corrective action behind closed doors with positive results announced to the world at large but a long and sustained public flogging one whose primary objective was to show the people of America who was in charge. All hail Obama!
Is this though what we really expect from government – doesn’t it have echoes of Putin like actions in conjunction with Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Yukos? Yukos was judged to have committed the “crime” of generating political negatives and it paid the ultimate price in this respect, in 2006 it was declared bankrupt. Will BP also pay a similar price, will it eventually be able to get past this sad incident – there are many who think the political hammer is one that is step-by-step putting nails in its coffin. And why? Because of that all important political aspect of public perception.
If your port or terminal suffers a major catastrophe – an oil tanker blows up, a cruise liner collides with another vessel, a runaway train creates havoc what you need is positive, practical political support. You don’t need a regime that fields a blame culture because its own response might not have been the best it could have been.
A joint response to work through the immediate problems and lay firm foundations to ensure a similar incident never happens again is what is required - the alternatives don’t appear in keeping with the values of the civilised world.
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