That the platform was built, maintained and run by Transocean, the largest offshore drilling infrastructure company in the world. They're american by the way. You might want to consider that several so called 'vital' safety features are not required by US regulation, are only required in Norway and Brazil was it(?), and have never actually been proven in the wild. You might want to consider that 36% of BP shares are US attributable, with 14% owned by individuals (i.e. 401K), and these investors have had $4BN wiped off their investment so far.

You might want to consider that whilst Obama runs around ranting like a drunk headless chicken (seriously, the guy is a joke), ranting about jobs. He may very well be killing much of the US oil industry and the US oil reserves. Believe me, as the cost rattles up, no company is going to go near offshore (or any other) drilling in the states. The cost:benefit is not worth it anymore. You think there is impact now from an oil spill, the impact from the political grandstanding could be far worse.

You may also want to consider that accidents DO happen. No one planned this, no one wanted it (certainly not BP who are down $1BN in costs, nor the US subcontractors who will end up footing much of BPs bill), but it is the price we pay for our dependence on oil, and the lengths we are forced to go to to get it in the name of energy independence.

Did you drive a car today? - grats, you contributed to this disaster. Did you use plastics? - grats you contributed. Did you buy any products that where not locally sourced? - grats you contributed. The list goes on.

Oil spills are an emotive issue, and one which looks terrible on TV with images of oil covered animals tugging the heart strings. But political grandstanding achieves nothing, it doesn't get people back to work, it doesn't clean things up, it normally causes more harm than good. And this is a perfect example.