Why a Diligent Press Matters — Solyndra’s Loan-Guaranteed Bankruptcy as an Example of Journalism’s Power to Discredit Politicians’ Harmful Untruths

© 2011 Peter Free

 

27 September 2011

 

 

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank models good fact-finding in a profession that mostly doesn’t

 

President Obama screwed up by backing a federal grant to the solar energy firm, Solyndra, against the advice of some of his economic advisors.

 

Ever since, Republicans have been using the stupidity of this fiasco as an example of the President’s inept, allegedly socialist-style government — conveniently forgetting their own contributions to both.

 

Yesterday, the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank let us in on the actual history behind Solyndra’s federal loan guarantee.

 

He exposed the hypocrisy that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and colleague Senators (Orrin Hatch and Jim DeMint) indulge in, when they attack federal loan guarantee programs on the basis of Solyndra’s failure:

 

What McConnell neglected to mention is that Solyndra was cleared to participate in this loan-guarantee program by President George W. Bush’s administration.

 

He also did not mention that the legislation creating the loan-guarantee program, approved by the Republican-controlled Congress in 2005, received yes votes from — wait for it — DeMint, Hatch and McConnell.

 

This doesn’t mean that Bush is to blame for Solyndra or that the Obama administration should be absolved. Obama, whose administration gave the company the loan guarantee, deserves the black eye that Republicans have given him over the half a billion dollars squandered on the company.

 

But the Republican paternity of the program that birthed Solyndra suggests some skepticism is in order when many of those same Republicans use Solyndra as an example of all that is wrong with Obama’s governance.

 

“Loan guarantees aim to stimulate investment and commercialization of clean energy technologies to reduce our nation’s reliance on foreign sources of energy,” Bush’s energy secretary, Sam Bodman, announced in a press release on Oct. 4, 2007.

 

The release said the Energy Department had received 143 pre-applications for the guarantees and narrowed the list down to 16 finalists — including Solyndra.

 

Bodman said the action put “Americans one step closer to being able to use new and novel sources of energy on a mass scale to reduce emissions and allow for vigorous economic growth and increased energy security.”

 

Bush’s Energy Department apparently adjusted its regulations to make sure that Solyndra would be eligible for the guarantees.

 

© 2011 Dana Milbank, The birthing of Solyndra, Washington Post (26 September 2011) (paragraphs split)

 

 

The point is not that federal loan guarantees to newly emerging (not yet economically competitive) industries are bad — but that twisting truth about the programs involved is

 

In a time that clearly calls for giving some thought to keeping American industries competitive, it is hardly helpful to pretend that federal programs that support emerging technologies are automatically a bad idea.

 

When Republicans lie about their own (sensible) past efforts to keep American manufacturing at the innovative forefront, in order to make this Democratic president look bad, they simply ensure that the public is confused about good policy.

 

Republican leaders could have more honorably attacked the President for his astonishingly bad judgment in Solyndra’s case, rather than dishonorably pretend that government support that nurtures new technology is automatically an undesirable thing.

 

The reality is that most of our economic competitors have formal and informal comings-together of capital, industry, labor, and government.  These cooperative efforts are intended to maintain each nation’s economic competitiveness in a planned way.

 

In contrast, the United States has no economic plan and essentially no cooperative collaboration among economic inputs.

 

The absence of an American economic strategy explains why we are envious of Germany’s continued manufacturing and exporting successes.

 

 

The moral? — Truth matters, and the classic media’s core job is seek it

 

When journalism fails to keep facts and truth at the forefront of its reporting, it fails in carrying out its historically-accepted duty to the public.  If American democracy is to survive, journalism cannot become (as it overwhelmingly has) just another money-making enterprise.

 

It is not clear, even in today’s short-outlook, sensation-seeking media market, that truth-finding and revenue are mutually exclusive.

 

If truth-telling and media revenue do turn out to be mutually exclusive, then the American republic will simply become a fantasy world.  The resulting “Money Land” will exist solely to benefit the Top One Percent’s ability to suck money out the Bottom Ninety-Nine Percent’s pockets.

 

Its importance is why journalism has historically been called the Fourth Estate. The profession's most exemplary members have seen the title as motivation to keep politicians and government honest.