Republicans and the Real Lesson of Solyndra

By Timothy Carney

In Republican-leaning circles in Washington, the question of the moment has been "Does this Solyndra thing have legs?" -- in other words, will the news media keep running stories on the subsidized, politically connected solar power company that just went bankrupt?

When Republicans ask this question, they mean, "Will this significantly detract from President Obama's re-election chances?"

The brief answer is: Probably not, because too many Republicans are asking the wrong questions and drawing the wrong conclusions.

Solyndra's rise and fall are an important microcosm of Obamanomics. It's an instance of the influence peddling, incompetence and waste that are inevitable whenever government becomes deeply entangled in industry.

But many Republicans are drawing narrower conclusions, making Solyndra about one loan, or trying to imply -- with insufficient evidence -- that it was a corrupt backroom deal. One reason they're not looking at the issue more broadly is that it would draw attention to the corporate subsidies Republicans love.
The most telling moment of last week's House subcommittee hearing on Solyndra was a back-and-forth between Democrat Ed Markey and Republican Phil Gingrey.

Markey pointed out that solar companies aren't the only energy companies getting federal loan guarantees. Power giant Southern Co. won a $3.4 billion loan guarantee from the Obama Energy Department last summer.

Gingrey, of Georgia, didn't like Markey "comparing Solyndra, this bankrupt company, totally unproven technology, to the Southern Company." Gingrey pointed out that "Southern Company owns Mississippi Power, Alabama Power, Georgia Power, among others, and employs literally thousands of people."
The implication was clear: Federal subsidies to big, established companies are fine. It's the handouts to these upstarts that are objectionable.

The implication was clear: Federal subsidies to big, established companies are fine. It's the handouts to these upstarts that are objectionable.

So Gingrey is embracing the heart of Obamanomics -- the proposition that government ought to be an active partner in shaping the economy and helping business -- while objecting to the administration's behavior in one case.

If Republicans were willing to broaden their attack beyond criticizing this one loan deal, they could indict the whole practice of government-business collusion. The GOP could show how Solyndra is the inevitable consequence of Obama's type of big-government policies.

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