Anatomy of a White(House)Wash

In a piece on Politico, liberal standard bearer Sally Kohn posted her response to the growing Solyndra scandal, in which the Obama White House aggressively pushed through $535 million in loans to a company that was not financially sound, nor capable of providing the product or returning the loan.

Typical of a smear (where is our AttackWatch?) Kohn states:

The Bush administration initiated loans to Solyndra – and tried to push them through before Obama was inaugurated. Since the loan went through, knowledgeable private investors – high-powered Democrats and Republicans – have invested in Solyndra as well. But Solyndra couldn’t compete with Chinese counterparts because the Chinese government subsidizes its green jobs industry 30 times more than we do in the United States, helping jumpstart the new industry.

You see the problem? As Kohn wants it positioned, the issue is not that the Obama Administration pushed through bad loans, it’s that the Chinese are way better than the United States. That, while preventing its citizens from using the Internet and jailing those who publicly disagree with the Communist government, the Chinese care more about the environment because the government takes the people’s money and gives it to government run/coordinated/controlled “green” industries.

Anyone want to guess how much CO2 and other pollutants China puts into the atmosphere? It’s a lot.

This desire to subsidize the green industry is not solely the purview of Kohn. Recently, on America Live with Megyn Kelly on FOX News Channel, radio host and FOX contributor Alan Colmes stated that (paraphrasing) we should add taxes to gas, oil and coal, which will allow “green” fuel sources to be competitive. Kohn and Colmes both show their lack of understanding about the free market, and of supply and demand. Who wouldn’t think its great that we can power our cars with electricity, power our houses with wind power and power our iPads with three hamsters running in tandem on a wheel? The argument that the political left is some how more desirous of these technologies is a lie. The left is more desirous of punishing the American people; forcing them to pay for technology that has no home in the marketplace at this time because the technology is not yet viable.

Back to Kohn’s statement. Yes, the Bush administration did look at these loans, and wanted to make the loans. And why wouldn’t they? Back to my earlier statement, we all want these technologies to work (though a conversation should exist as to whether or not government should subsidize any business). In the case of Solyndra, the company didn’t work. The Bush Administration received numerous warnings and made the prudent decision to back off the loans. They were warned, rightfully, that Solyndra was not on sound footing, that they simply didn’t have the system. They couldn’t repay. They couldn’t survive.

The Obama Administration received the same warnings. Specifically, that this deal wasn’t ready for prime time. At Big Journalism.com, John Nolte put together a much needed timeline of news reports showing incredible concern for this deal. It wasn’t a secret. The Bush Administration knew the deal was no good, and press from around the San Francisco Bay knew the deal was no good. The Obama Administration knew the deal was no good, but put rigid ideology before common sense, and the American Taxpayer.

Like the President, Kohn and Colmes have no regard for the American Taxpayer. For them, it is the taxpayer that is the problem. Kohn ends her quip by stating:

If there’s a scandal here, it’s that America is inadequately investing in the jobs of the future.

When you give America something sound to invest in, they usually do. What Kohn and Colmes are talking about is not investing. They are talking about redistributing millions to billions of taxpayer dollars to like-minded green ideologues. If those developing solar, wind and other technologies believe in their product they should pitch their product to the private sector, and get their funding that way. Solyndra did that, and those investors lost out. Investing is a risk, and sometimes you lose. In the investing world, they call it “due diligence” for a reason. And no one is, nor should, think about bailing out those who invested.

Stating that the problem is the American Taxpayer, or a lack of taxation to even the playing field, is simply a falsehood. The Obama Administration, by all accounts, pushed forth government-backed loans to advance an agenda that coincides with their rigid ideology, with no regard for advanced warning or the American Taxpayer. No amount of whitewash can change that reality.