Agreed. It's the right thing to do.
If an angry, torch-carrying mob of people were outside my house I would lock my door. If somebody knocked on the door and said, "can you come out here, we'd like to negotiate for a bit?", it might be hard for them to get me to do it until the angry mob goes away.
Congress can force the BP head to go talk to them. I think a few Louisiana fishermen or environmentalists might have a few things to say to the head of BP too, but I doubt he's going to give them a hearing.
Congress just wanted to make some political hay by torturing this guy in front of the media. They needed a goat, they chose him, because the sitting president is a Dem so it can't be his fault. Maybe it made people feel a little better or feel like somebody was doing something, but nothing Congress did slowed down the oil gusher or made the fix happen any faster. All they did was roast this guy for your viewing pleasure. No fish were saved or pelicans untarred by this public humiliation. It didn't save the jobs of any oystermen. From a practical standpoint, it was useless posturing by Congress.
Guaranteed that Steve would look just as much a fool or more as the head of BP if he came on this board and tried to answer the questions. We can shoot him 100 questions a day, and the only answer that really means anything is a check in your mailbox. Unless and until one comes, every word he says will be challenged and ridiculed. Not that it shouldn't. But I understand why he isn't putting himself through that anymore.
Please don't look at this as me defending Steve's silence. I'm offering an explanation. That doesn't mean I like it.
