Critics Get Parting Shot at BP's Outgoing CEO, 'Life Isn't Fair' Tony Hayward

(July 28) -- Even as he bowed out as CEO, blunder-prone BP exec Tony Hayward managed to put his foot in his mouth one last time before heading off to his new position in Russia.

Speaking about the public response to the environmental disaster that killed 11 people, ruined the livelihoods of thousands and left beaches and water fouled with oil, Hayward told reporters Tuesday that "life isn't fair," according to BBC News.

"BP cannot move on in the U.S. with me as its leader. ... Life isn't fair," he said. "Sometimes you step off the pavement and get hit by a bus."

Editorial boards, politicians and bloggers wasted no time lining up to blast the comments. Among the pithiest responses noted by Surge Desk:

Salon.com's Andrew Leonard: "Life isn't fair. This is a lesson most of us learn early on, along with the corollary proposition that whining about it gets you absolutely nowhere. But the truly offensive part of Hayward's quote is the notion that he, the exiled-to-Siberia CEO with the fat $18 million financial parachute, somehow got 'hit by a bus.' "
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: "What's not fair is what's happened on the gulf. What's not fair is that the actions of some have caused the greatest environmental disaster that our country's ever seen. ... I don't think that a lot of people in any country are feeling overly sorry for the former CEO of BP."
Kelly McParland of Canada's National Post: "There is something faintly comical about the public flattening of BP Oil's Mr. Bean-like CEO, Tony Hayward, ... a guy so clueless he took time off from fighting the leak to head home to England for some weekend sailing on his yacht."
The Times-Picayune editorial page staff: "BP CEO Tony Hayward should have learned by now that self-absorbed whining doesn't play well to an audience that includes victims of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and a region that's suffering environmental and economic devastation from the resulting oil spill."
"Contrarian" at InvestingContrarian.com: "The real question is whether BP is capable of redeeming itself. The equivocal, grudging and self-justifying tone of yesterday's statements suggests it will be an uphill struggle."