The Sun Never Sets on Republican Ridicule of Alternative Energy

I’m not sure why the putrid scent of desperation still clings to the republicans at a time when Team Obama is treading water, at best, and hoping like hell that something can kick the economy back into gear.  But it is.  Yesterday, a few miles across the Dumbarton Bridge, with the glow of Facebook world headquarters visible in the distance, empty suit Mitt Romney stood on a dusty road shoulder presiding over a hastily organized photo op in front of the now shuttered remnants of ill-fated solar manufacturer Solyndra’s facility, flogging the dead horse of this poster child to Obama’s "failed energy policy and economic cronyism".  Nice try, Mitt, but in case you didn't notice, the horse is dead.

At the same time another of the many republican media hacks, syndicated columnist Victor Davis Hanson, published an op-ed in the San Jose Mercury essentially calling the Obama cabinet a pack of criminals and bumbling fools.  This hyperbolic characterization mostly stems from their various human foibles and clearly defensible policy decisions with which he happens to disagree, including funding of alternative energy projects at the expense of more generous subsidies for big oil.  This fixation with Solyndra puzzles me.

Isn’t the fundamental principle underlying the unfettered capitalism favored by the republican party for the last 50 years embodied in the concept, big risk / big reward?   Since when does their economic philosophy include punishing risky investment in pursuit of a huge reward?  Is it only when the risk is born by the public and the reward is reserved for corporations, private investors and heartless bastards like himself that failure is acceptable?   In regards Solyndra, to paraphrase Otter in the movie, Animal House, let’s face it; we fucked up – we trusted them.   The clowns at Solyndra probably weren’t the horse to bet on.  But the right wing is determined to repeatedly run over the horse with bulldozers to make their point. 

What strikes me is the fervor with which the republicans attack this particular misstep.  It not only serves as a surrogate for Obama economic policy in general, it allows republicans to reinforce the notion that the very idea of alternative energy production is quaint but naïve and provides an opening for them to pimp for the oil company benefactors that keep them in business.   Hanson’s column goes so far as to suggest that the US has the largest oil and gas reserves in the Western world and all of our problems would be solved if we could just have unobstructed drilling and exploitation of those reserves anywhere they occur.  He is dismissive of any ecological concerns that get in the way of “progress” and has a scorched earth development philosophy that would make James Watt blush.   He trots out 20 year old tax liens and assorted other horseshit accusations in the pursuit of partisan advantage, while never mentioning the jackals on Wall Street who precipitated the economic crisis for which he and Mitt are so eager to blame Obama. 

Is that all you’ve got?  Seriously?   Or let me ask it this way; what’s your best idea, Mitt?  Just give us one. 

OK, while we wait for that, why don’t we cut to the chase?   Romney appeals to two segments of the republican party; the stiff-collared patrician, Bill Buckley, conservative wing and the we-hate-that goddamn-negro-Obama wing and that’s pretty much it.  This current push is to try to convince the independents who voted for Obama last time that he had his chance and blew it and now they need to turn the ball over to the Mitt-ster so he can try to use his knuckle-curve to get us out of the mess.  This is the danger for Obama – he has to convince those people that it will all still work; he just needs another year.  And the sad truth is, as slow as it is, the housing market – the overwhelming drag on the economy – is recovering, albeit way too slowly for most people to notice.   So if Mitt does happen to win, he could be as ineffective as King Edward II and if the housing market improves enough to pull the economy out of the doldrums he can stage-dive off the White House balcony and adoring crowds would probably carry him up Pennsylvania Avenue – life’s a bitch, Barack, but it is what it is.

That’s why you need to push Boner and McConnell and the other traitorous swine in congress relentlessly through the summer and talk jobs, jobs, jobs.  Screw the deficit.  That’s all bullshit and an underhanded way for the republicans to accomplish their long-dreamed of social engineering in the name of responsible governing and conservative austerity; also bullshit, as both Paul Krugman and Robert Reich will testify.  You need to hitch the wagon to those guys, drop any impulse towards cooperation and collegiality with the donkeys in the House and put the hammer down.  Otherwise your legacy may end up being the unpopular, one-term guy who just happened to save the country from doom.