Drill, baby Drill

It's been a few days since the oil rig explosion that has sent more oil into the Gulf of Mexico than the Exxon Valdez poured off the coast of Alaska some 20+ years ago.  Estimates now are that the oil is larger in area than the island of Puerto Rico.  In the wake of this undeniable environmental disaster, so many questions are unanswered--- who's fault is this? what really happened? what's going to happen? how much is this going to cost to clean up? is the oil going to reach the shore? what happens if it does.

Sadly, many of these questions, although being batted around, have no conclusive answers.  This morning I watched a piece with George Stephanopoulos and Tony Hayward (the CEO of BP).  Two parts of the interview were truly unnerving.  First, after the spill, BP asked fisherman it hired to sign waivers of liability.  Hayward stated that it was just a form contract and that he was looking into it and that the signing would stop.  Second, Hayward refused to take responsibility for the explosion.  Hayward said that the explosion and the spill were not BP's responsibility.  Well, surely there is some responsibility, here, right Tony?  Hayward answered, "the oil."  How does that work, Tony Hayward?  You have no responsibility for the rig, the workers on the rig, or the going-ons of the rig, but you have responsibility for the oil.  I guess that works well when you get to cash in on the black gold.

Obama set BP straight by saying, "Let me be clear, BP is responsible for this leak. BP will be paying for the bill."  I wonder what Hayward has to say to that.  Perhaps people wouldn't be so anti-capitalism if they actually saw some semblance of compassion, remorse, and apologies from CEOs instead of semantics and refusals to accept responsibilities.  Perhaps corporate responsibility shouldn't be an oxymoron anymore, especially for BP and Mr. Tony Hayward.