Talking It Over

President Obama is set to have a discussion about BP with new British Prime Minister David Cameron today.  While a lot of focus has been on Obama's response to the massive oil geyser, this is Cameron's first big international test and so far he's been playing the protectionist card publicly.

With tensions simmering on both sides of the Atlantic, BP's handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is set to top the agenda of talks Saturday between US and British leaders.

The White House said that President Barack Obama is to call British Prime Minister David Cameron from the Oval Office.

The two men will likely seek to ease tensions after Obama stepped up his criticism of BP over the spill, the biggest man-made environmental disaster in the United States, and Cameron threw his support behind a "financially strong" BP.

Obama has summoned BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg to meet with him in Washington next Wednesday, criticized chief executive Tony Hayward, and fired a warning over shareholder payouts.

British newspapers in turn have demanded that Cameron stand up to Obama in the phone call.

I fail to see how this should really some sort of international pissing contest (unlike today's England/USA World Cup matchup later today.)  Cameron should of course defend his country's interests, but the bottom line here is that BP literally blew it and will have to pay for it whether Cameron likes it or not.  Rallying around BP here is as much a loser internationally as it is here in the states.

Secondly, how does Cameron "stand up" here?  Surely the corporate community in the UK doesn't want him to threaten trade sanctions or something lunatic like that, right?  Cameron's got enough problems on his plate with his whole crazy Neo-Hoover cutback scheme.  If anything he's going to have to tread lightly here, because BP is clearly in the wrong.

We'll see.