The Lights Are Going Out All Across California

Debra Saunders watched the Solyndra debacle from up close:

Rube that I am, I didn’t understand what Obamaland was thinking. Solyndra had not turned a profit since it was founded in 2005. The plant in which Obama stood was bankrolled with a $535 million federal loan guarantee. Two months before, PricewaterhouseCoopers questioned Solyndra’s “ability to continue as a going concern.”

If the president wants to send a positive message on the U.S. economy, I wondered, then couldn’t his people have found a California company that doesn’t rely on a federal loan and actually makes money?

Bad advance work, I figured.

A month later, Solyndra canceled a planned $300 million public offering. In November, Solyndra closed its older plant and cut its workforce. Today Solyndra’s lights are out.

Now I am wondering: Isn’t there some graybeard in the White House who — knowing that the president won’t look good if the tax-funded solar plant folds — does some digging to make sure the president’s choice of venue will not come back to haunt him?

Or could it be that Team Obama is composed of like-minded green true believers who insulate themselves from other points of view — much like the way, critics contended, George W. Bush was surrounded with yes men?

Crony capitalism, kids. George Kaiser was an Obama fundraiser in 2008 — and a Solyndra investor, too. No doubt he got his out of the deal. We’ll have to wait for the next election before we’re made whole again.