THE TELEGRAPH: A backlash against President Barack Obama's vilification of BP over the Gulf oil spill is developing in America where he is under fire for playing politics with the issue.
One of his most sweeping demands of BP - that the company be made to foot the bill for a drilling moratorium imposed by his administration - has been undermined after it emerged that his own officials modified expert advice.
His call for BP to pay the wages of other companies' oil workers laid off during the halt to deep-water drilling and other related costs was initially viewed by the White House as a popular punitive tactic against the beleaguered British energy giant.
But the campaign has come under fire from US businesses, Republican politicians and even some lawyers suing BP over the oil spill as legally unenforceable "big government" posturing.
Most damaging is the revelation that the administration modified a report by a panel of experts advising Mr Obama. Two paragraphs were added calling for the moratorium, which was not part of the team's conclusions.
More than half of the experts, who were recommended for their know-how by the National Academy of Engineering, have since revealed that they actually opposed a halt to drilling.
Ken Salazar, the interior minister who ordered the ban, has now apologised. "The experts involved in crafting the report gave us their recommendation and their input," he said. "It was not their decision on the moratorium. It was my decision and the president's decision to move forward."
The controversy has fuelled the belief that Mr Obama is trying to deflect criticism of his handling of the crisis by lashing out at BP - despite reportedly assuring David Cameron, the British prime minister, in a telephone conversation yesterday that he had "no interests" in undermining the company's value.
The President, who has repeatedly used the company's former name, British Petroleum, as a reminder of its foreign roots, said last week that he was looking for "ass to kick" and would himself have fired Tony Hayward, the chief executive. >>> Philip Sherwell in New York | Saturday, June 12, 2010
