The Democrats’ Chicago Way

Obamanomics Prescribes Guns for Mexican Drug Cartels, Buttering-Up Donors for Campaign Cash

• Newly released documents reveal that the Obama Justice Department actually used taxpayer money to buy 2,000 semi-automatic weapons, which it promptly sold to Mexican drug cartels only to lose track of them.
• These revelations follow allegations that Obama’s White House put pressure on government agencies to direct taxpayer money to politically-favored companies like now-bankrupt Solyndra and ignored warnings about the financial risks involved with the government takeover of healthcare.
• Recent events suggest the White House’s problems run deeper than a disregard for taxpayer dollars. Mounting allegations of political cronyism, bullying of political adversaries and sexism suggest the White House’s Chicago way may have brought Chicago-style corruption and incompetence to Washington.

BACKGROUND

Newly released documents reveal that the Obama Justice Department actually used taxpayer money to buy 2,000 semi-automatic weapons, which it promptly sold to Mexican drug cartels only to lose track of them:

OBAMA ADMIN USED TAXPAYER FUNDS TO PURCHASE 2,000 GUNS IT THEN SOLD TO THE SINALOA CARTEL: “Not only did U.S. officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel — the federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched as the guns disappeared.” (William Lajeunesse, “U.S. Government Used Taxpayer Funds to Buy, Sell Weapons During ‘Fast and Furious,’ Documents Show,” Fox News, 9/26/2011)

DISCLOSURE “COULD UNDERMINE” DOJ’S PREVIOUS DEFENSE THAT THEY SIMPLY “LOST TRACK” OF WEAPONS: “This disclosure, revealed in documents obtained by Fox News, could undermine the Department of Justice’s previous defense that Operation Fast and Furious was a ‘botched’ operation where agents simply ‘lost track’ of weapons as they were transferred from one illegal buyer to another.”(William Lajeunesse, “U.S. Government Used Taxpayer Funds to Buy, Sell Weapons During ‘Fast and Furious,’ Documents Show,” Fox News, 9/26/2011)

These revelations follow allegations that Obama’s White House put pressure on government agencies to direct taxpayer money to politically-favored companies like now-bankrupt Solyndra and ignored warnings about the financial risks involved with the government takeover of healthcare:

SOLYNDRA: 

OBAMA BUNDLER GEORGE KAISER WAS A TOP SOLYNDRA INVESTOR: (Joe Stephens and Carol D. Leonnig, “House Republicans Steps up Solyndra Investigation,” The Washington Post, 9/1/2011)

KAISER HAD 16 MEETINGS WITH OBAMA AIDES, FOUR IN MARCH 2009—THE VERY MONTH SOLYNDRA LOAN WAS AWARDED $535 MILLION:  “White House visitor logs show that Kaiser had 16 meetings with Obama aides, 11 of them in 2009. His first recorded visit to the White House was March 12, 2009, when he met separatelywith Austan Goolsbee, a senior economic adviser to Obama, Pete Rouse, a senior adviser to the president, and Heather Higginbottom, deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council. The next day he met with Jason Furman, a member of Obama’s National Economic Council.” (Jim Snyder, “FBI Raids Bankrupt Solyndra as Lawmakers Question Panel Maker’s Finances,” Bloomberg, 9/9/2011) 

OBAMA PLANNED ON ANNOUNCING SOLYNDRA LOAN GUARANTEE IN MARCH 2009…BEFORE IT HAD BEEN GUARANTEED: “A March 6, 2009 email among staffers at the White House OMB, read, ‘DOE staff just told me there’s a 99 percent certainty that President Obama, on March 19 in California for other reasons, will announce that DOE is offering a loan guarantee to Solyndra. As far as I can tell the obligation won’t be entered into until May, but once the President endorses it, I doubt seriously that the Secretary will withdraw for any reason.'” (Phillip Klein, “OMB Had Warned Solyndra ‘NOT Ready for Prime Time,'” The Washington Examiner, 9/14/2011)

THEN WHITE HOUSE TRIED TO HURRY APPROVAL SO THEY COULD HOLD EVENT TOUTING SOLYNDRA IN SEPT. 2009: (Joe Stephens, “White House Pressed on $500 Million Loan to Solar Company Now Under Investigation,” The Washington Post, 9/13/2011)

OBAMA OFFICIALS SAT IN ON SOLYNDRA BOARD MEETINGS FOR MONTHS: (Ronnie Greene and Matthew Mosk, “Obama Officials Sat In on Solyndra Meetings,” ABC News, 9/9/2011)

CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY LISTED AMONG SOLYNDRA’S CREDITORS? WE’RE CONFUSED TOO: “Out of the hundreds of out-of-work employees, vendors, investors and other creditors in the bankruptcy of government-backed solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC, one name stands out: the California Democratic Party.

“Why California Democrats would be creditor to a company that received more than a half-billion dollars in federal loans to build a solar-panel plant isn’t clear. Even party officials say they’re not sure.” (Jim McElhatton, “California Democratic Party Among Solyndra’s Creditors,” The Washington Times, 9/25/2011)

NOT-SO-CLASS ACT?

“TROVE OF INTERNAL E-MAILS” SHOW OBAMA OFFICIALS “KNEW THAT A PROGRAM FOR LONG-TERM CARE” WAS A “FISCAL DISASTER” BUT WENT AHEAD ANYWAY: “The Solyndra solar subsidy flare-up is getting all the media attention, but arguably as great a White House scandal concerns one of ObamaCare’s multiple new entitlements. A trove of internal emails uncovered by congressional investigators shows that administration officials knew that a new program for long-term care really was the fiscal disaster that critics claimed at the time.

“Known by the acronym Class, the government-backstopped insurance for nursing homes, home health aides and the like was among the worst accounting gimmicks used to make it seem as if national health care would reduce the deficit.” (Joseph Rago, “GOP Vets an ObamaCare Program,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/19/2011)

DEPUTY HHS SECRETARY TOLD TOP DEMS THAT PROGRAM LOOKED “LIKE A RECIPE FOR DISASTER”: “A Health and Human Services deputy secretary repeatedly warned his superiors and Democratic staff on the Hill that the Class program ‘seems like a recipe for disaster to me.’ Later, he even suggested that Democrats include a ‘failsafe’ for public support.” (Joseph Rago, “GOP Vets an ObamaCare Program,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/19/2011)

MEDICARE SCOREKEEPER RICK FOSTER PREDICTED THE “PROGRAM WOULD COLLAPSE IN SHORT ORDER AND REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT FEDERAL SUBSIDIES TO CONTINUE”: ” ‘Thirty-six years of actuarial experience,’ Mr. Foster wrote to the Medicare legislative affairs office, ‘lead me to believe that this program would collapse in short order and require significant federal subsidies to continue.’ He later wrote that ‘I assume you’ve conveyed these concerns to the staff but, if not, let me know and we can express these concerns in a memo.'” (Joseph Rago, “GOP Vets an ObamaCare Program,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/19/2011)

BUT DEMOCRATS “WENT AHEAD ANYWAY”: “The emails, obtained by a joint Republican panel led by Sen. John Thune and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, reveal that the administration knew the program was designed to fail and went ahead anyway.” (Joseph Rago, “GOP Vets an ObamaCare Program,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/19/2011) 

Recent events suggest the White House’s problems run deeper than a disregard for taxpayer dollars. Mounting allegations of political cronyism, bullying of political adversaries and sexism suggest the White House’s Chicago way may have brought Chicago-style corruption and incompetence to Washington:

FORD PULLS AD CRITICAL OF AUTO BAILOUTS ON TUESDAY AFTER “QUESTIONS” FROM OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: “For the only Detroit automaker that ‘didn’t take the money’ of the federal auto bailouts, Ford Motor Co. keeps paying a price for its comparative success and self-reliant turnaround. …

“The ad, pulled in response to White House questions (and, presumably, carping from rival GM), threatened to rekindle the negative (if accurate) association just when the president wants credit for their positive results (GM and Chrysler are moving forward, making money and selling vehicles) and to distance himself from any public downside of his decision.” (Daniel Howes, “Ford Pulls Its Ad on Bailouts,” Detroit News, 9/27/2011)

OBAMA WHITE HOUSE FACED RECENT ALLEGATIONS OF A WORKPLACE HOSTILE TO WOMEN:

FMR. WH COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR ANITA DUNN: WHITE HOUSE “WOULD BE IN COURT FOR A HOSTILE WORKPLACE”: ” ‘This place would be in court for a hostile workplace,’ former White House communications director Anita Dunn is quoted as saying. ‘Because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women.'” (Nia-Malika Henderson and Peter Wallsten, “Book: Women in Obama White House Felt Excluded and Ignored,” The Washington Post, 9/16/2011) 

HIGH-RANKING WH OFFICIAL: OBAMA “HAS A REAL WOMAN PROBLEM,” “JUST AS RESPONSIBLE” AS HIS STAFF FOR WHITE HOUSE “BOYS’ CLUB” ATMOSPHERE: ” ‘The president has a real woman problem,’ an unnamed high-ranking female official told Suskind. ‘The idea of the boys’ club being just Larry and Rahm isn’t really fair. He [Obama] was just as responsible himself.'” (Nia-Malika Henderson and Peter Wallsten, “Book: Women in Obama White House Felt Excluded and Ignored,” The Washington Post, 9/16/2011)

FORMER TOP ECONOMIST CHRISTINA ROMER: “I FELT LIKE A PIECE OF MEAT”:“Christina Romer, former head of the Council of Economic Advisers, said of one meeting where she’d been shut down by Summers, ‘I felt like a piece of meat.'” (David A. Graham, “9 Juicy Bits from Ron Suskind’s Book,” The Daily Beast, 9/19/2011)

FLASHBACKS TO 2008:

OBAMA GOT HIS POLITICAL MENTOR ALICE PALMER KICKED OFF THE BALLOT:“Joining Chelsea Clinton and other women to campaign for Hillary Clinton today is Alice Palmer. She’s the former state senator who picked Obama to be her successor back in the mid-90s.

“When she tried to reclaim her spot, Obama got her booted from the ballot. … Palmer’s story is more familiar in Chicago than it is in Indiana, even in the northwest section of Hoosierland that consumes so much of the Chicago news media. Still, the national press has shown an interest in the early account of Obama playing hardball, and Palmer’s presence may remind some of them of the story.” (Andrew Malcolm, “Once Obama’s Mentor, Alice Palmer Now Campaigns for Clinton,” Los Angeles Times, 4/26/2008) 

“BARACK OBAMA ALLY TONY REZKO CONVICTED OF FRAUD, ATTEMPTED BRIBERY AND MONEY LAUNDERING”: “The conviction in Chicago of Antoin “Tony” Rezko on fraud, attempted bribery and money laundering charges prompted Republicans to raise concerns about Mr Obama’s fitness for office. Rezko, 52, a Chicago property developer and former fundraiser for several politicians including Mr Obama, was found guilty on 16 of 24 counts.” (Tom Leonard, “Barack Obama Ally Tony Rezko Convicted of Fraud, Attempted Bribery and Money Laundering,” The London Telegraph, 6/5/2008)

AFTER REZKO AND HIS WIFE HELPED OBAMA BUY A HOUSE: “[The Obamas] found a $1.65 million house… The doctor who lived there also owned the vacant lot next door, and although the properties were listed separately, wanted to sell both at the same time. Despite their new income, the Obamas could not have afforded both parcels. The Obamas closed on their house in June 2005. On the same day, Rezko’s wife, Rita, purchased the vacant lot for $625,000. They later sold a portion of the lot to the Obamas, for $104,500, so the family could expand its yard. The Rezkos then paid $14,000 to build a fence along the property line.” (Edward McClelland, “How Close Were Obama and Tony Rezko?”, Salon, 2/1/2008)