Obama tells Britain no hard feelings over spill

LONDON – President Barack Obama reassured Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday that his frustration over the mammoth oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not an attack on Britain as the two leaders tried to soothe trans-Atlantic tensions over the disaster.

Cameron's Downing St. office said the two leaders held a "warm and constructive" telephone conversation for more than 30 minutes.

Obama has recently sharpened his criticism of BP PLC as the company struggles to stop millions of gallons of oil gushing from its ruptured deep-sea well. Cameron is under pressure to get Obama to tone down the rhetoric against of a major British company, fearing it will hurt millions of Britons — as well as many Americans — who hold BP stock in investments and pension plans.

wow..what a bunch of crap!

news.yahoo.com...

It said Obama recognized that BP — which he has pointedly referred to in public by its former name, British Petroleum — is a multinational company, "and that frustrations about the oil spill had nothing to do with national identity." Obama said he had no interest in undermining BP's value. The company's stock has lost 40 percent of its value since the oil rig fire on April 20 that unleashed the United States' worst oil spill.

Downing Street said the two men agreed that BP should continue "to work intensively to ensure that all sensible and reasonable steps are taken as rapidly as practicable to deal with the consequences of this catastrophe."

wow..what a bunch of crap!

The Obama administration walked a careful line Saturday: trying to show toughness with BP, but also reassuring Britons that the president holds no animosity toward their country and institutions. The strategy could be risky if Obama's political opponents use it to reinforce claims that he has been too gentle and diplomatic in dealing with the oil company.

Before the Obama-Cameron phone call took place, the U.S. government told BP it has until the end of the weekend to speed up efforts to contain the oil spill.

Later, the White House let Cameron's office make the first public remarks about Saturday's phone call. Downing Street used the opportunity to stress that Obama is not attacking Britain and that he recognizes BP as a global firm.

When the White House finally released its official statement, only one of the 10 sentences referred to the oil spill. It said the two men discussed the impact of the spill, "reiterating that BP must do all it can to respond effectively to the situation."

Minutes later, a senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation, confirmed that the president had told Cameron "that our frustration has nothing to do with national identity" but focuses instead on "ensuring that a large, wealthy company lives up to its obligations."

The official said Obama told Cameron that BP "must meet its obligations to those whose lives have been disrupted," and that the administration "will insist everything be done to cap the well, capture the oil, and pay for the cleanup, the environmental damage done and the tens of thousands of economic claims as a result of this disaster."

wow..what a bunch of craap..that is all i have to say!

wow..what a bunch of craap..that is all i have to say!

I have to agree, Obama is really pushing it with this spill, such a Rookie he is Barky!

Why should we be mad at a country when it is a private corporation, that IS multinational as far as I understand.

There's plenty of fishy stuff going on with this, but this is all misplaced if you ask me. Why hold their government responsible unless it was a planned attack of sorts.

Keeping BP stock inflated is inefficient and only helps promote inflation.

To big to fail BS once again...