Donor, officials warned Obama not to visit Solyndra after financial warnings

[clearvision]

Washington Post:

A Silicon Valley investor and senior administration officials warned the White House to reconsider having President Obama visit a solar start-up company because of its mounting financial problems, saying he might be embarrassed later.

“A number of us are concerned that the president is visiting Solyndra,” California investor and Obama fundraiser Steve Westly wrote to Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett in May 2010. “Many of us believe the company’s cost structure will make it difficult for them to survive long term. ... I just want to help protect the president from anything that could result in negative or unfair press.”



One OMB official wrote to a White House staffer: “I am increasingly worried that this visit could prove embarrassing to the Administration in the not too distant future, given 1) what we just heard today from DOE that Solyndra is delaying their IPO at least until the end of the year, and 2) what the auditors said about Solyndra making it through the year absent new financing.”

But inside the Energy Department, which had pushed to give Solyndra the government-backed loan, officials counseled the White House not to worry.

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More interesting tidbits at the link.

[NCTexan]

Barry's insistence on doing a photo-op and teleprompter speech reminds me of the old expression...

 

Don't let your alligator mouth overload your hummingbird "rump".

[WestVirginiaRebel]

NY Times:

WASHINGTON — Some White House officials were so concerned last year about the financial health of Solyndra, a solar equipment manufacturer that had received federal loans, that they warned that a presidential trip to the company’s California factory could prove a major embarrassment, newly disclosed e-mails show.

The e-mails, gathered as part of a Congressional investigation into the Department of Energy loan program, offer new insight into just how worried administration officials were about the $528 million loan to Solyndra, which is now in bankruptcy, as well as other government efforts, amounting to $16 billion in loan guarantees, to promote clean energy. The warnings came from both inside the White House — an official in the Office of Management and Budget wrote that the visit could be “embarrassing in the not too distant future” — as well as from private investors, including one Democratic campaign contributor who wrote to the White House the day before the president’s May 2010 visit to Solyndra to urge officials to reconsider the trip.

“I just want to help protect the president from anything that could result in negative or unfair press,” Steve Westly, a California venture capitalist and an Obama contributor, wrote in May 2010 to Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president. “If it’s too late to change/postpone the meeting, the president should be careful about unrealistic/optimistic forecasts that could haunt him in the next 18 months if Solyndra hits the wall, files for bankruptcy, etc.”

The Solyndra loan, which was completed in September 2009 and could cost taxpayers a half-billion dollars, has come under Congressional scrutiny since the company declared bankruptcy last month. The business is also under investigation for possible fraud by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Mr. Obama defended the government’s investment on Monday, saying that “hindsight is 20/20” and the fact that the program involved risk was generally well known. In an interview with ABC News, he also said that the overall portfolio of loan guarantees was “doing well.”

In releasing the new e-mails, Democrats said they were seeking to demonstrate that there was no evidence of political favoritism toward Solyndra, whose investors include a foundation run by a major fund-raiser for Mr. Obama, a connection that Congressional Republicans have emphasized. The e-mails, though, do provide new evidence of a concern by lawmakers that the broader loan guarantee program might be troubled.
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But it's "Doing so well..."

[pollyannaish]

Seriously. This guy has to be the most arrogant guy to occupy the Whitehouse in the modern era. He actually believes himself to be not only the smartest guy in the room...but possessing some sort of magical power of simply being.