Cameron Pushes Back at Obama over BP (NYSE:BP)

British Prime Minister David Cameron pushed back against Barack Obama over what is becoming to look like a witch hunt with BP (NYSE:BP), rather than a legitimate quest to take care of cleanup costs and legitimate claims against the company for damages to businesses and jobs.

Many British shareholders in BP are seething over the pressure from the Obama administration and Democrats which resulted in the suspension of the dividend of the company for the remainder of 2010.

Even more concerning for Cameron and the British people, was what appears to be the idea that there is no cap on what BP will have to pay, and the commitment of $20 billion to a fund over the next for years to pay for claims and other damages,

Obama stated, “This $20 billion will provide substantial assurance that the claims people and businesses have will be honored. It’s also important to emphasise this is not a cap.”

Speaking to the potential abuse from those making claims against the money in the fund, Cameron said, "They do need a level of certainty, and this is BP's worry, that there won't be claims entertained that are three or four times removed from the oil spill. This shouldn't be about going after BP for the sake of it."

Cameron is correct of course. That's why I've opposed BP caving to the demands, as immediately afterwards Obama came out and made the comment that it was "not a cap."

Nobody said it was. But the implication is he's going to continue to sock it to the company in order to attempt to generate political gain. But that's already backfiring, as the far left liberals in America are turning against Obama because he isn't using the circumstance to promote their global warming agenda via cap-and-trade legislation.

It's impossible at this time to come up with more consistency in what it could come close to costing BP, as American scientists are all over the place with how much oil is spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, as over the last several days they've thrown out everything from 20,000 barrels a day all the way up to 60,000 barrels a day.

And the Democrats and Obama call out BP on their former numbers of 5,000 barrels a day. The disparity of up to 40,000 barrels a day makes it impossible to tell what the reality is, and until BP is able to gather the majority of oil on ships in the area, no one can really accurately estimate the amount of oil, and by extension, the ultimate costs related to the spill.

Responding to feedback from the British, Cameron concluded that he will indeed need to "stand up for BP a bit more,” and that seems to imply he and the British think the bashing has gone on long enough, and there needs to be more constructive comments coming from the administration.

Pressure will continue to mount on Cameron if the Obama administration refuses to let up, and that could result in some serious diplomatic problems if there isn't some give there.