As Dems’ “Green Casino” Gets Busted, Obama Looks for Scapegoats

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Facing growing questions about their loan guarantee to now-bankrupt Solyndra, President Obama and fellow Democrats have resorted to historical revisionism and a desperate blame game, making the false claim that the decision to give Solyndra taxpayer money somehow originated with Republicans:

OBAMA LAST WEEK: SOLYNDRA LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAMS “PREDATES ME”: “Solyndra -- this is a loan guarantee program that predates me that historically has had support from Democrats and Republicans as well.” (“News Conference by the President,” The White House, 10/6/2011)

SAYS REPUBLICANS SUPPORTED SOLYNDRA’S PARTICULAR LOAN PROGRAM: “All of them [Republicans] in the past have been supportive of this loan guarantee program…” (“News Conference by the President,” The White House, 10/6/2011)

OBAMA: “THE NATURE OF THESE PROGRAMS… WAS TO TAKE BETS”: “And the nature of these programs are going to be ones in which for every success there may be one that does not work out as well. But that’s exactly what the loan guarantee program was designed by Congress to do, was to take bets on these areas where we need to make sure that we’re maintaining our lead.” (“News Conference by the President,” The White House, 10/6/2011)

Independent fact-checking has already debunked the Democrats’ desperate tries to distance themselves from their Solyndra fiasco, exposing the embarrassingly transparent attempt by Democrats to rewrite the Solyndra approval timeline to obscure their own role in flushing more than $500 million taxpayer dollars down the toilet:

FACT-CHECK.ORG: SOLYNDRA LOAN “CAME UNDER ANOTHER PROGRAM CREATED BY THE PRESIDENT’S 2009 STIMULUS,” NOT PRE-EXISTING PROGRAM: “But Solyndra’s loan guarantee came under another program created by the president’s 2009 stimulus for companies developing ‘commercially available technologies.’” (D’Angelo Gore and Eugene Kiely, “Factcheck: Obama’s Solyndra Problem,” FactCheck.org, 10/9/2011)

MORE: REPUBLICANS “OVERWHELMINGLY OPPOSED” THE FIRST STIMULUS: “Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and some of them even voted against the Energy Policy Act of 2005 at a time when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress.” (D’Angelo Gore and Eugene Kiely, “Factcheck: Obama’s Solyndra Problem,” FactCheck.org, 10/9/2011)

“THE LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM THAT PROVIDED FINANCING FOR SOLYNDRA, HOWEVER, DOES NOT PREDATE OBAMA”: (D’Angelo Gore and Eugene Kiely, “Factcheck: Obama’s Solyndra Problem,” FactCheck.org, 10/9/2011)

TIMELINE: SOLYNDRA WAS REJECTED FOR LOAN GUARANTEE IN CLOSING DAYS OF BUSH ADMIN, ONLY TO BE GIVEN A SECOND REVIEW AFTER DEMOCRATS PASSED THEIR STIMULUS:

JAN 9, 2009: CREDIT COMMITTEE SAYS “THE NUMBER OF ISSUES UNRESOLVED MAKES A RECOMMENDATION FOR APPROVAL PREMATURE AT THIS TIME.” (“Credit Committee Recommendation,” House Energy and Commerce Committee “Documents Entered Into Record”, Accessed 10/11/2011, p.1)

JAN 13, 2009: MORE E-MAILS, BEFORE OBAMA WAS SWORN-IN, SAY “IT WAS THE UNANIMOUS DECISION NOT TO ENGAGE IN FURTHER DISCUSSIONS WITH SOLYNDRA AT THIS TIME.” (Email from Lachlan Seward, House Energy and Commerce Committee “Documents Entered Into Record”, Accessed 10/11/2011, p.2)

FEB. 18, 2009, STIMULUS SIGNED INTO LAW: (Laura Meckler, “Obama Signs Stimulus Into Law,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/18/2009)

MARCH 10, 2009: SOLYNDRA LOAN GUARANTEE WAS PICKED UP AGAIN BY OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: “DOE IS TRYING TO DELIVER ITS FIRST LOAN GUARANTEE WITHIN 60 DAYS FROM INAUGURATION” (House Energy and Commerce Committee “Documents Entered Into Record”, Accessed 10/11/2011, p.3)

BUT WARNED THAT “THIS DEAL IS NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME.” (House Energy and Commerce Committee “Documents Entered Into Record”, Accessed 10/11/2011, p.3)

AND FROM THERE, IT WAS OFF TO THE RACES:

SOLYNDRA REVIEW TOOK ONLY 9 DAYS; AVERAGE WAS 28 DAYS: (Ryan Tracy, “House Probes Solyndra Loan,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/14/2011)

E-MAILS SHOW WHITE HOUSE TRIED “TO RUSH FEDERAL OFFICIALS” TO ISSUE SOLYNDRA LOAN: (Tim Mak, “Report: White House Pushed on Solyndra,” Politico, 9/14/2011)

OMB STAFFER CALLED OUT WHITE HOUSE: “WE WOULD PREFER TO HAVE SUFFICIENT TIME TO DO DUE DILIGENCE REVIEWS AND HAVE THE APPROVAL SET THE DATE FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT RATHER THAN THE OTHER WAY AROUND”: (Ryan Tracy, “House Probes Solyndra Loan,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/14/2011)

OMB STAFF WORRIED THAT “GIVEN TIME PRESSURE WE ARE UNDER TO SIGN-OFF ON SOLYNDRA,” NO TIME FOR THOROUGH RISK ASSESSMENT: (Tim Mak, “Report: White House Pushed on Solyndra,” Politico, 9/14/2011)

OMB TOLD WHITE HOUSE: WE “WOULD PREFER THAT THIS ANNOUNCEMENT BY POSTPONED”: (Tim Mak, “Report: White House Pushed on Solyndra,” Politico, 9/14/2011)

This frenzied push-back from Democrats comes as the probe into Solyndra’s finances is reaching a fever pitch, with new questions emerging about political favoritism as well as illegal actions that may have been taken by Obama’s Department of Energy to restructure Solyndra’s loan after the company threatened to default on its first $500 million loan:

NEW E-MAILS: OBAMA’S DEPT. OF ENERGY WAS WARNED THAT THEIR PLAN TO RESTRUCTURE SOLYNDRA’S LOAN “COULD VIOLATE THE LAW”: “Energy Department officials were warned that their plan to help a failing solar company by restructuring its $535 million federal loan could violate the law and should be cleared with the Justice Department, according to newly obtained e-mails from within the Obama administration.” (Joe Stephens and Carol Leonnig, “Solyndra Loan Deal: Warnings About Legality Came from Within Obama Administration,” The Washington Post, 10/7/2011)

“ENERGY DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS MOVED AHEAD ANYWAY” WITH PLAN THAT WOULD “REPAY COMPANY INVESTORS BEFORE TAXPAYERS”: “The e-mails show that Energy Department officials moved ahead anyway with a new deal that would repay company investors before taxpayers if the company defaulted. The e-mails, which were reviewed by The Washington Post, show for the first time concerns within the administration about the legality of the Energy Department’s extraordinary efforts to help Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt Aug. 31.” (Joe Stephens and Carol Leonnig, “Solyndra Loan Deal: Warnings About Legality Came from Within Obama Administration,” The Washington Post, 10/7/2011)

AP: DOE OFFICIAL AND “OBAMA FUNDRAISER PUSHED SOLYNDRA LOAN” DESPITE PLEDGE TO RECUSE HIMSELF; HIS WIFE WAS SOLYNDRA LOBBYIST: “Newly released emails show that Steve Spinner, a former Obama fundraiser who helped monitor a clean energy loan guarantee program, was more actively involved in a loan for Solyndra LLC than administration officials have acknowledged. …

“In the emails, Spinner repeatedly pushes Energy Department and White House budget officials to ensure that the loan was finalized before Biden's planned trip. The loan closing was announced at the groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 4, 2009.

“ ‘How -- hard is this? What is he waiting for?’ Spinner wrote in an Aug, 28, 2009 email to a DOE official. ‘I have the OVP (Office of the Vice President) and WH (the White House) breathing down my neck on this. They are getting itchy to get involved.’” (Matthew Daly, “Obama Fundraiser Pushed Solyndra Loan,” Associated Press, 10/7/2011)

OMB STAFFERS SPECIFICALLY CITED PRESSURE FROM OBAMA AND RAHM EMANUEL IN TRYING TO RUSH LOAN: “White House staff discussed in emails that either President Obama or his former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel were eager to help spotlight a solar company in early 2009, despite numerous internal warnings that the company could be financially unstable, according to new e-mails. …

“ ‘Ron said this morning that the POTUS definitely wants to do this (or Rahm definitely wants the POTUS to do this ?),’ one White House staffer told an Obama scheduler on Aug. 17, 2009.” (Carol Leonnig, “Solyndra: Obama and Rahm Emanuel Pushed to Spotlight Energy Company,” The Washington Post, 10/7/2011)

AND OBAMA ADMIN JUST AUTHORIZED A $1.2 BILLION LOAN GUARANTEE FOR ANOTHER SOLAR COMPANY WITH FINANCIAL TROUBLES AND POLITICAL HOOKUPS: “As failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra rides through the investigative ringer in Congress, revelations of another politically-connected company that received what appears to be a less-than-virtuous $1.2 billion loan guarantee are surfacing.

“The company, SunPower, received its $1.2 billion loan guarantee in September, immediately before the program’s deadline.

“SunPower isn’t as financially sound as the public was led to believe when it secured a loan guarantee twice the size of Solyndra’s $535 million loan. Just this week — less than a month after taxpayers landed on the hook for SunPower’s $1.2 billion loan guarantee — company executives announced that they expect to lower their 2011 earnings projections. The company also carries $820 million in debt, which is $20 million more than its market capitalization.” (Matthew Boyle, “Solar Company with $1.2 Billion Taxpayer Loan Guarantee, Political Connections Exhibits Signs of Financial Trouble,” The Daily Caller, 10/11/2011)