White House worried about Solyndra default

[The Northerner]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- White House officials discussed the political ramifications of a possible default by a troubled solar energy company that received more than $500 million in federal loans, newly released emails show.

Emails released on Thursday night show that Obama administration privately worried about the effect of a default by Solyndra Inc. on the president's re-election campaign.

"The optics of a Solyndra default will be bad," an official from the Office of Management and Budget wrote in a Jan. 31 email to a senior OMB official. "The timing will likely coincide with the 2012 campaign season heating up."

The email, released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee as part of its investigation into the Solyndra loan, showed that Obama administration officials were concerned about Solyndra's financial health even as they publicly declared the solar panel maker in good shape.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SOLAR_MANUFACTURER_INVESTIGATION

[dennis4868]

1. i don't see this as news...

unless Obama or his WH played games to get them a loan when they should not have gotten one in the first place. so far no evidence of that.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[ingac70]

6. It had been in the works since 07 for them to get these loans. n/t

[Bluebear]

3. "discussed the political ramifications" - that's nice.

How about the financial ramifications?

[Broderick]

11. LOL. you ought know our tax money is inconsequential

to the politics of everything. The friends on wall street and at the banks got to keep both yachts on both coasts and all their vacation homes based on our willingness as serfs to help them out.

[gateley]

4. It was posted here today that the loan was approved under Bush,

and Obama used funds from the stimulus to implement it. Why aren't they focusing on that?

It's entirely possible the WH was eager to get this out and going for the PR, but the Bush admin is the one who initially approved this company.

More of Bush's nightmare that's come crashing down on us.

[Warpy]

5. They should be. Some flunky didn't do his homework

because there were clear signs something very fishy was going on with the management of that company.

I have a feeling the management will end up in jail, if only to deflect that fact away from the White House. However, it was pretty clear they were up to no good.

[bbgrunt]

7. Stewart led with the story tonight. He gave the

impression that the "flunkies" actually did do their homework--they even predicted that it would go under by Sept 2011. The decision to go forward with it came from higher up.

[tblue]

8. Time to go on the offensive. Long past time.

Obama should right now announce an investigation into every Republican-tainted scandal there is. Have his DOJ lower the boom on Murdoch and Clarence Thomas and Scalia and Bush and Cheney and all the crap that has been left unadressed and festering. If we're gonna clean house, then let's clean the whole house, not just the Democrats' side.

Talk about optics. The President could take a political hit for this. Fox and the Repubs will tear him up if we continue to act like rules are for Democrats and not for Republicans. Pres. Clinton was impeached, but Pres. Bush wasn't even investigated. Which party looks like saps? Take the gloves off and go on the defensive. Just freaking fight.

I do not want Pres.Obama raked over the coals while all those criminals he's pretty much forgiven pile on top of him.

[galileoreloaded]

9. Not so fast............

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/solyndra-obama-connection

[FarCenter]

10. Yes, the story is that Kaiser will wind up with the assets of Solyndra after bankruptcy

Kaiser Foundation will provide debter in possession financing, and the bankruptcy judge will auction off the company. It is worth nothing to anyone else, so Kaiser will be the only bidder. It will wind up with the companies assets and the government will lose the half billion dollars since it is subordinate to the private investors.

[Broderick]

12. Sweet gig for them

sigh