Main focus of Thursday, June 17, 2010

Oil slick threatens Obama

At the urging of US President Barack Obama the oil company BP has expressed its willingness to pay at least 20 billion US dollars into a fund for victims of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. The European press writes that Obama is trying land a coup with the move, as his presidency is menaced by the catastrophe.

Der Standard - Austria

US President Barack Obama is facing the same fate as Jimmy Carter or George W. Bush as a result of the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, writes the daily Der Standard. The former had a hard time because of the year-long holding of US hostages at the US embassy in Tehran and the latter because of Hurricane Katrina: "Unlike Carter and Bush however Obama has extremely few options for action in the present case. The president is entirely dependent on BP and its technology. ... When the bore hole is finally plugged - and there are many indications that this won't be before August - the political consequences of the disaster will be as sticky and difficult to erase as the oil being washed onto the beaches of the southern states. Following his victories on healthcare reform and the Start treaty with Russia Obama's government has fallen out of step again. None of the issues like immigration reform or financial market regulation, all of which have the potential to cause problems for the Republican opposition, stand a chance of getting the public's attention in the coming months." (17/06/2010)

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Expansión - Spain

The fact that US President Barack Obama has managed to wrestle 20 billion dollars from petrol company BP will above all serve to protect him from all too harsh criticism of his crisis management, the business paper Expansión writes: "Barack Obama doesn't want the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to destroy his term in office. To avoid this the president of the United States is determined to solve the worst environmental disaster in the history of the country and at the same time leave no doubt about who is responsible: BP. ... Obama's hard line is worrying for the British government. Yesterday Prime Minister David Cameron said in an interview with the BBC that the company needed 'certainty' about the amount of compensation to be paid." (17/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Environmental Policy, » Energy, » Corporations, » United Kingdom, » U.S.

Jyllands-Posten - Denmark

Anyone who lays the blame for catastrophes like that in the Gulf of Mexico only on the companies involved is fooling themselves, writes the liberal daily Jyllands-Posten: "If one didn't know better one could almost believe ... that BP had just been waiting for a chance to pollute the Gulf of Mexico with huge quantities of crude oil. That in any event is the impression given by President Obama in his televised address to the nation. ... The interesting question is whether or not Americans have caught on that the oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is the price they must pay for seeking independence from oil imports from the Middle East and viewing cheap fuel as a human right. Regardless of what technological advances we make, oil will be the dominant fuel in this decade and the next. The fact that the 307 million US citizens use 18.7 million tons of crude oil a day while the 500 million EU residents get by on 'only' 14 million tons speaks volumes on decades of failed US energy policy." (17/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Energy, » Corporations, » Europe, » U.S., » Global

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