Still think British accents are sexy? Rumor has it that Geico is thinking of having the gecko speak with a German accent. "Saf money on kar insurance mit Geico". Hell, they could replace the gecko's voice with Gordon Geico and still antagonize fewer people. General Mills is contemplating a name change for Cheerios to aviod the Brit connection.
British Petroleum has single-handedly destroyed what it took Ronald Coleman and James Bond 75 years to build. Women swooned at the sound of Hugh Grant or Hugh Laurie. Now, between BP president Tony Hayward wanting his life back and board chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg oozing concern for the "small people", the Brits are about as popular around here as they were in 1775. Seriously, who is acting as BP's media consultant, Benny Hill?
America is really angry. Tragically, we should be angry at ourselves for remaining locked in a death dance with oil and the companies that supply it. Thirty two years after the Middle East embargo that had us lining up for a petrofix, nothing has been done to mitigate our gasoline jones. We are embarrassed and we should be. Everyone wants to blame someone but we all know where the real blame lies. Unfortunately, because self-evaluation has never been our strongest suit, we will blame the usual suspects: government, industry, regulations, lack of regulations; everyone but the pelicans...and, of course, ourselves.
Because political discourse is nothing if not ironic, the anti-government, anti-regulation crowd is screaming for government to fix the leak. Those with no actual responsibilities or solutions are excoriating the President for his inability to somehow make things right. Shocking! Those who proclaim "Obama's Katrina" are wrong. This is America's Chernobyl.
BTW If you think that's it's urban legend that BP has co-opted Google and Yahoo so that company approved sites come up first in a search, check it out. It's true.
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