Rue Britannia?

I’ve been reading and watching the coverage of the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico these past six weeks and I’ve been struck by the fact that blame is being assigned to everyone from President Obama to BP executives to minor bureaucrats in obscure regulatory agencies. But no one, as far as I know, is blaming the Brits. And why should they? Even though the spill now spans the terms of two Prime Ministers, it’s clear that the spill isn’t Gordon Brown’s fault, or David Cameron’s fault, or the fault of the British people.

But BP is a British company – BP used to stand for British Petroleum, after all (before it stood for “Beyond Petroleum,” or more recently on the Internet, “Bad People”). Still, none of the ugly tar balls washing up on the Gulf Coast seem to be sticking to the Brits.

Now let’s imagine a different scenario. Let’s say that an American company, maybe Exxon Mobil or Chevron, had somehow tapped a gusher in the middle of the English Channel and had failed to contain the spill. We can only imagine the outrage that would have been directed toward the U.S. by now.

So why have we given the Brits a pass?

I think there are four reasons. The first is the fact that the sun set long ago on the British Empire. They are no longer a hegemonic superpower. The two world wars effectively ended their imperialistic ambitions by the middle of the last century, and as a consequence they’ve lost their position as the primary target for the world’s destitute and downtrodden. That bull’s eye is now on America’s back, even if most of us Yanks would argue that we don’t deserve it (we’ve never claimed an empire).

The second reason the British are not being blamed for the Gulf spill is because all of us know that BP was drilling for oil that was destined for our gas tanks. Someone, or some group of people, or some company, will eventually be held accountable for this spill, but all of us know in our hearts that we all share the blame for this gooey nightmare because of our collective inability to wean ourselves from our dependence on oil.

Another reason I think we’re reluctant to blame the British is because they’ve spent more than a century earning our trust, respect and admiration. American soldiers have fought shoulder to shoulder with British troops in several big wars and numerous small ones, in the last century and again in this one. They’ve been America’s ally even when they shouldn’t have been (see: Special Relationship, Blair–Bush chapter). And as a result, they’ve put some serious PR capital in the bank with the American people.

And finally, of course, there is America’s love affair with all things British. I think this is especially true for Baby Boomers like me who grew up reading Sherlock Holmes stories and studying Shakespeare and Dickens in high school English classes. (Do kids still read Dickens? They should.) Then of course there was James Bond… and the Beatles… and lovely Princess Diana. We Boomers may be angry about all that oil in the Gulf of Mexico, but we’re not about to blame a country that gave us John, Paul, George and Ringo. (And Mick). (And Keith).

In the end, BP’s bumbling CEO Tony Hayward may yet find a way to use up all of that precious British PR capital, and the American people – Anglophiles included – may start to ask what, exactly, Great Britain might do to help undo the damage that’s been done to our waters. But I don’t think we’ll get to that point. Pop music and Sherlock Holmes aside, the Special Relationship will endure, and will survive the crisis in the Gulf.

Postscript to this entry: I’m filing this column from Dubai, where I’m spending the better part of the summer on assignment. This will mean fewer posts to Borderless Communications in the weeks ahead but, I hope, some interesting new entries on business, politics and everyday life in Arabia. (Inshallah).