While Rome burned, Nero fiddled. And while tens of thousands of gallons of spilled oil, natural gas and methane burn near the site of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf Of Mexico ... British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward spends the day off the south coast of England watching his yacht compete in an exclusive yacht race.
"Hayward took Saturday off to see his 52-foot yacht "Bob" compete in a
race around the Isle of Wight off southern England. It was a good day
for sailing — breezy and about 68 degrees — but anger simmered on the
steamy Gulf Coast, where crude oil is still gushing from a blown-out
well. 'Man, that ain't right. None of us can even go out fishing,
and he's at the yacht races,' said Bobby Pitre, 33, who runs a tattoo
shop in Larose, La. 'I wish we could get a day off from the oil, too.'
"BP spokespeople rushed to defend Hayward, who has drawn biting criticism as the public face of BP PLC's halting efforts to stop the spill. Company spokesman Robert Wine said the break is the first for Hayward since the Deepwater Horizon rig that BP was leasing exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the undersea gusher. 'He's spending a few hours with his family at a weekend. I'm sure that everyone would understand that,' Wine said.
"But Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, who taped an interview for ABC’s This Week called Mr. Hayward’s attendance at the race 'part of a long line of P.R. gaffes and mistakes' that he has made. 'To quote Tony Hayward, he’s got his life back,' Mr. Emanuel said."
The yacht outing comes two days Hayward's hostile interrogation on Capitol Hill. It also comes one day after BP’s chairman announced Hayward would not be as involved in daily operations in the Gulf.
Alabama's conservative Republican Sen. Richard Shelby delivers the money quote to The New York Times: "I can tell you that yacht ought to be here skimming and cleaning up a lot of the oil. He ought to be down here seeing what is really going on. Not in a cocoon somewhere."
UPDATE: Appearing on CBS News' Face the Nation, Shelby calls on Hayward to resign. Think Progress reports: "[Shelby's] comments were echoed by Louisiana Republican Congressman Joseph [Cao], who added BP is 'out of touch'."
He is set for the rest of his life,no matter what happens!!Why should he care?
Posted by: DWJazzlover | 20 June 2010 at 11:58
nice work, rod, thanks for the coverage from several sources and for including the conversation from the sunday morning shows that some of us may have missed! too bad the republicans, shelby and gao, seem from your post to be out front on booting bp's hayward, they're not exactly representing a party known for corporate accountability (but dems need to step their game up on that these days, too).
"The Republicans are out front" criticizing BP? I never said or implied that and you know that. The GOP has been doing the quite the opposite (see: Cheney, Barton, Barbour, Bachmann, Visser et al) that's why Shelby and CAO's statements are newsworthy. -RM
Posted by: will in nyc | 20 June 2010 at 12:20
There’s something touching about Republicans criticizing oil CEOs.
Posted by: Jim | 20 June 2010 at 12:22
Hmmmm, it's all well and good to beat down the BP CEO; what about our CEO's repsonse? Obama has failed as did Bush with Katrina on this disaster
Posted by: andruw pennington | 20 June 2010 at 12:40
"it's all well and good to beat down the BP CEO..."
No one is beating on Hayward. His company cut costs and an noil rig exploded, no worries, just billion of dollars in damages to residents.
" Obama has failed as did Bush with Katrina on this disaster"
Katrina was the fault of the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US govt failing to respond. It is NOT Obama's job to plug the oil leak a mile below the surface of the Gulf.
"shelby and gao, seem from your post to be out front ...":
Aren't you the same Will in NYC who was trying to argue with Rod over the Tea Party not being racist or homophobic? Now you're saying the GOP is "out front" criticizing BP? Perhaps you missed Rep Joe Barton at the Hayward hearing? Two Republicans does not "out front" make, dear. Nice try though.
Who are these homocon gay Republicans who flock to blog? Is it because of the pics of black man? And why do they always feel they have to pat Rod on the head or say something clearly patronizing. White gay privilege much?
Posted by: Former COGIC | 20 June 2010 at 13:09
shame!!!
these elitists who run hobama and our world are hopelessly clueless...we are doomed!
http://aliciabanks.vox.com/library/link/6a0123ddb39306860b01347efba180860b.html#comment-6a0123ddb39306860b0137a4beea8d860c
Posted by: alicia banks | 20 June 2010 at 14:06
The rebubs are critizing the president on making BP pay. That shows who's hands are in who's pockets. I wasn't totally surprised when atht happened. Some of the repubs tried to back away from the statements the TX repub said regarding the 20 billin as a corporate shakedown. that's what's disgusting. And as was said all over the sunday shows and others afetr before sunday, "this was a democratic gift". Now they(Dems)have to really run with it.
Posted by: Diva1961 | 20 June 2010 at 21:45
Obama is not to blame for this disaster or the lacking recovery efforts. This has never happened before so there's no blueprint/play book to go buy.
Now for the BP CEO what's the problem? A Corporate CEO = high paid delegator. He can call shots from his yacth. Everyone is entitled to some social time. Work hours aren't around the clock.
Posted by: Ummm | 24 June 2010 at 01:30