Obama Admin Shared Job-Destroying Expertise With Solyndra

November 4, 2011

As Obama Stumps for Stimulus 2.0, Revelations That White House Plotted with Solyndra on How to Shut Factory and Destroy Jobs

President Obama’s spokesman this week outrageously claimed that America is debating job-creation only because of the president’s push for stimulus 2.0, a repeat of Obama’s first failed stimulus. Obama must have forgotten about the fact that American workers and families worry about jobs every day, and that 15 job-creation bills already passed by the House this year are being held up by Senate Democrats.
Obama must have also forgotten about his administration’s role in actively destroying jobs. Newly released Solyndra e-mails show the Obama administration “strategized with” Soylndra on how to shut down a factory and destroy 200 jobs there in the process.
Meanwhile the Democrats’ signature green jobs programs continue to be a huge flop—producing few sustainable green jobs despite billions of dollars down the drain.

BACKGROUND

President Obama’s spokesman this week outrageously claimed that America is debating job-creation only because of the president’s push for stimulus 2.0, a repeat of Obama’s first failed stimulus. Obama must have forgotten about the fact that American workers and families worry about jobs every day, and that 15 job-creation bills already passed by the House this year are being held up by Senate Democrats:

OBAMA: IT’S ALL ABOUT HIM: “The point the President is making broadly is that, I mean, if not for the President’s insistence on pushing the American Jobs Act, would we be having a debate about jobs and the economy right now in Washington or would Congress be — or the Republicans in Congress be so divorced from the reality that Americans are encountering every day that they would be debating matters wholly unrelated to the primary concerns of the American people.” (“Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney,” The White House, 11/2/2011)

BLOOMBERG: 95% OF AMERICANS HOLD NEGATIVE VIEW OF ECONOMY, WORST SINCE RECESSION AND CLOSE TO A RECORD HIGH: (Timothy Homan, “Consumers in U.S. Are Most Negative on Economy Since Recession,” Bloomberg, 10/27/2011)

HOUSE HAS ALREADY PASSED 15 JOBS BILLS THIS YEAR THAT DEMOCRATS ARE STALLING: “The collection of bills was approved earlier this year by House Republicans. GOP leaders say all 15 measures would help to jump-start job creation, but they blame Senate Democrats for refusing to act on them.” (David Drucker, “Reid Won’t Stop GOP From Bringing Up House Jobs Bill,” Roll Call, 11/1/2011)

Obama must have also forgotten about his administration’s role in actively destroying jobs. Newly released Solyndra e-mails show the Obama administration “strategized with” Soylndra on how to shut down a factory and destroy 200 jobs there in the process:

SOLYNDRA CEO “STRATEGIZED WITH” OBAMA ADMIN ON HOW TO SHUT DOWN PLANT AND LAY OFF NEARLY 200 EMPLOYEES: “Solyndra’s top executive strategized with the Obama administration in October 2010 as the California solar company prepared to shut down an older plant and lay off nearly 200 employees, new internal emails released Wednesday show.” (Darren Samuelsohn, “Solyndra Warned W.H. in Oct. ’10,” Politico, 11/3/2011)

E-MAIL REACHED CAROL BROWNER, OBAMA’S “TOP ENERGY AND CLIMATE ADVISER”: “CEO and President Brian Harrison flagged the company’s bad news to a top DOE loan guarantee official in an Oct. 25, 2010, email. The warning worked its way up the chain of command, ultimately reaching President Barack Obama’s top energy and climate adviser, Carol Browner.” (Darren Samuelsohn, “Solyndra Warned W.H. in Oct. ’10,” Politico, 11/3/2011)

SOLYNDRA WAS OBSESSED WITH CONTROLLING RUMORS OF ITS PROBLEMS, SOME “QUITE ACCURATE,” IN MEDIA COVERAGE: ” ‘The reason for this note is to make you aware that Solyndra has received some press inquiries about rumors of problems (one of them with quite accurate information) and we have received in-bound calls from potential financial investors,’ Harrison wrote to Frances Nwachuku, the director of the portfolio management at DOE. ‘Both of these data points indicate the story is starting to leak outside Solyndra.'” (Darren Samuelsohn, “Solyndra Warned W.H. in Oct. ’10,” Politico, 11/3/2011)

WHITE HOUSE REAX: HOW TO SQUARE 200 LAYOFFS WITH BIDEN SPEECH AT SOLYNDRA A YEAR BEFORE: “Later messages show the Obama officials discussing how Solyndra had delayed its announcement by a week. On Oct. 29, Zichal wrote O’Connor with questions about how to explain Biden’s remarks in September 2009 when the vice president spoke via video conference at a groundbreaking ceremony for the company.

” ‘So how do we think this lay off announcement impacts the loan we gave them?’ Zichal wrote. ‘They build the manufacturing facility but it calls into question the longer viability of the company?'” (Darren Samuelsohn, “Solyndra Warned W.H. in Oct. ’10,”Politico, 11/3/2011)

Meanwhile the Democrats’ signature green jobs programs continue to be a huge flop—producing few sustainable green jobs despite billions of dollars down the drain:

MONEY WELL SPENT? STIMULUS “SPENT MORE THAN $111 MILLION TO TRAIN 18,000 PEOPLE WHO STILL HAVEN’T LANDED A JOB”: “President Obama’s highly-touted green jobs program — born out of his 2009 stimulus package — has spent more than $111 million to train 18,000 people who still haven’t landed a job.”(“Obama’s $500 Million Green Jobs Program ‘Far Behind’ Projections, Watchdog Says,”FoxNews.com, 11/2/2011)

STIMULUS GREEN PROGRAM AT 21 PERCENT OF TRAINING GOAL, 10 PERCENT OF JOB-PLACEMENT GOAL. PRETTY SURE THAT’S AN “F”: “Though the department set a goal of training nearly 97,000 people and placing 80,000 in jobs, the 26,000 people trained represent 21 percent of the goal while only 10 percent had found work.” (“Obama’s $500 Million Green Jobs Program ‘Far Behind’ Projections, Watchdog Says,”FoxNews.com, 11/2/2011)

TESTIMONY “A BLOW TO OBAMA” AND HIS CALLS FOR STIMULUS 2.0: “The testimony was a blow to Obama, who is working frantically to show voters he is trying to boost the sluggish economy.” (“Obama’s $500 Million Green Jobs Program ‘Far Behind’ Projections, Watchdog Says,” FoxNews.com, 11/2/2011)

BACKS UP CLAIM THAT STIMULUS WAS “ECONOMICALLY WASTEFUL”:“Friedman’s testimony bolsters Republicans’ claim that Solyndra’s demise is proof of how economically wasteful the Obama administration’s stimulus plan has been.”(Alexa Vaughn, “Energy Department Official Says Agency Overwhelmed by Loan Program,” Los Angeles Times, 11/02/2011)

NOT SO “SHOVEL READY” AFTER ALL: “Friedman said the stimulus programs for clean energy turned out to be ‘more challenging than many had originally envisioned.’ While stimulus funds were to go to ‘shovel ready’ projects with the idea of creating jobs quickly, ‘in reality, few actual “shovel ready” projects existed,’ Friedman said.” (Carloyn Lochhead, “Energy Stimulus Program a Mess, Official Says,” San Francisco Chronicle, 11/02/2011)

FEDERAL WATCHDOG WHO WARNED ABOUT SOLYNDRA SAYS GOVERNMENT LACKED INFRASTRUCTURE TO DISBURSE STIMULUS SPENDING EFFECTIVELY:“Friedman told the committee that the Energy Department was simply overwhelmed by the amount of stimulus money it received and could not overcome challenges in getting the money out the door on a timely basis.” (“Obama’s $500 Million Green Jobs Program ‘Far Behind’ Projections, Watchdog Says,” FoxNews.com, 11/2/2011)