Why Would Obama Highlight Solyndra?

September 23rd, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

Solyndra is the big cleantech story of the day again today for those outside (and some of those inside) the cleantech arena. We’ve been covering the story quite a bit lately, so if you want to read more from us on the matter, check out these Solyndra stories. There’s one thing, though, that I’ve mentioned but haven’t dedicated a post to, so think I will quickly now….

So many people are implying or outright saying that the Obama administration knew Solyndra would fail but gave it the loan guarantee anyway. The obvious question would then be: Why would Obama & crew highlight a company they knew was going to fail?

Obama toured the facilities. He and Biden held press conferences and spoke Solyndra’s great potential. They were calling the media to them, to this issue. Why would they do that if they thought the company were to fail (and, thus, knew all this publicity would come back to bite them in the a**)?

Really, let’s get logical here.

Yes, Solyndra was a failure.
No, solar is not a failure, as it has added nearly 7,000 jobs in the last year, growing 6% and now reaching over 100,000 U.S. jobs.
Solar is expected to grow at a fast clip worldwide and in the U.S. In fact, it was the great success of solar policies and companies in China that undercut Solyndra.
It would be completely nonsensical of the Obama administration to highlight Solyndra repeatedly in the press, rather than one of the other 50+ companies employing 100,000 workers in the U.S., if it knew the company were to fail.

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Tags: obama solyndra, Solyndra, solyndra obama

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

Dcard88

Time and time again the Fox watchers completely ignore anything that common sense should indicate. I something makes no sense at all, why would you believe it with out solid evidence? I will believe anyone associated with the decision to aprove the loan knew it would fail as soon as I see all the evidence and not a moment before.
- Anonymous
  
  If you are driven by political motives then there’s no need for evidence to join a lynching party, all you need is a good talking point.
  
  It doesn’t matter if the talking point is true or false, all that matters is that it can be used as a stick with which you can take swings at your opponent.
  
  Look at birth certificate crap. It was clear to anyone with even a half measure of objectivity that there was no basis for that claim, but even the Republican leaders in Congress used that phony issue in attempt to harm.
  
  It’s so interesting to me that the party that marches forth under the banner of Christianity is so willing to violate one of their most important rules “Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness”.
- Anonymous
  
  Well put.
  - Dcard88
    
    Thanks and for the article. My fav is the idea that Saddam was involved with terrorism or had WMD – both silly ideas – that should have required solid evidence of to beleive
    - Anonymous
      
      I know! That’s one of those things that makes me realize that much of the public will believe almost anything without asking for any link or sign of proof (except Global Warming, of course, which has decades worth of scientific research as proof).
Susan Kraemer

I see it as just one among many investments. Any VC will tell you that a few percent fail. $90 billion total, this was just half a billion. The others are doing fine.

China invested $800 billion in their clean tech. It takes serious committed government investment to really get a novel technology off the ground. We have only one party that will do it. So we are hamstrung.
- Anonymous
  
  Thanks for the comments!
  
  & Shoot, meant to include the % of the loan guarantees that accounted for again. Well, maybe another quickie on that
  - Anonymous
    
    $535 M / $38.6 B = 1.4%
    
    http://lpo.energy.gov/
    - Anonymous
      
      Thank You!
      
      Now I don’t have to find the numbers
  - Anonymous
    
    Cutting finer:
    
    $535 M / $16.04 B = 3.3% all Solar (includes $1.93 B for Topaz)
    $535 M / $1,282 M = 42% Solar Manufacturing
    
    https://lpo.energy.gov/?page_id=45
Susan Kraemer

Salazar compares it to any other energy exploration:

“It’s not going to be a perfect path where every project proposed is going to be built toward completion,” he said, comparing the Solyndra failure and other high-profile bankruptcies to “dry holes” encountered by early oil and gas explorers.