There is the haughty conviction that these elite illiberals know what is best for us in terms of energy use
The Obama Administration’s sheer defiance was in full display at this week’s House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing this week.
The subject, the Solyndra bankruptcy.
The testimony of Energy Secretary Steve Chu was a disgrace from every vantage point. The defiance has a multitude of “looks”.
First there is the haughty conviction that these elite illiberals know what is best for us in terms of energy use by transferring billions of taxpayer money into their “green” agenda. Second is with zero industrial or financial competence they wade into investments rejected by the private sector as commercially viable because they neither make economic nor industrial sense.
And finally is the defiance that it is none of the good citizens business nor any recognition of the abject failure and loss but a rather more instructive tone that this is a “risky” business.
Then in the wake of email traffic which heavily suggests the club hand of the Obama White House weighing into support one of their key financial supporters there is a further defiance of what is obvious cronyism.
The sheer arrogance of this approach, disregard for the fiduciary duty to taxpayers and the expansive definition of government’s role are at the outer limit of abuse.
It is binary, either Secretary Chu is incompetent or disingenuous or both. He should resign or be fired.
Congress should aggressively review the entire budget of this department and review the proper role of the executive branch in dispensing $34 billion in activism investment.
It is very simple: as any professional venture capitalist understands, the level of due diligence, oversight and financial engineering required to be successful needs cutting edge skills. Government is ill suited for this role.
This “touch the sky” hubris is a prime marker of the Obama clan and the ultimate defiant insult to the country and the world.