So, what's the big deal with Solyndra?

Solyndra loan deal: Warnings about legality came from within Obama administration

This headline represents a story I have basically ignored. Why? I really do not know. Maybe it is because it is not juicy enough, not enough intrigue, not complicated.

Understand that this scandal, and it is becoming a rather overwhelming scandal, was wrong before the beginning. Huh? Let me explain.

Back in the closing days of the Bush Administration, the folks involved with Solyndra, came begging. They needed investment capital but could not talk the private sector into investing. Bush entertained the idea, but, before he left office, he listened to the unanimous opinion of his advisers and said "no" to the company.

Within days of becoming president, Obama devised a plan to feature Solyndra at center stage, the poster child of his innovative Green Policy agenda. In his immaturity, he decided that all Solyndra needed was money. So he gave them 535 million dollars. They took the money and, almost immediately, began a series of maneuvers that would spell "abject failure." When this failing became obvious to the Administration, the original Solyndra contract was illegally rewritten. $75 million in private funds were infused into this idiocy. The government funds were moved to the back of the line, in the contract restructuring, and private money was to moved to the front -- an illegal arrangement, one that violated established law. . . . . and therein is the real scandal.

Forget the fact that the $535 million (that's half a billion, folks) was ultimately wasted. Forget the fact that Bush told Obama "this is a bad deal.' Forget the fact that we cannot compete with
Red China in solar panel manufacturing. And, forget the fact that Obama, as late as two months ago, was about to give Solyndra millions more.

Focus on the FBI raid of Solyndra and the email/document treasure that was removed from Solyndra offices. Understand that an FBI raid is approved only after a judge has determined that a crime may have occurred. That is the determinant factor for a Federal Bureau raid. The raid was last month. It marked a change in the seriousness of the story. Before the raid, this was simply a stupid business decision on the part of Obama. After the raid, the likelihood of all this being highly illegal became the news of the day. It is so serious, that it threatens to bring down Obama's green agenda and may challenge his very Administration. It is a very bad sign , this business of being raided by the FBI. The confiscated e-mails show that Energy Department officials proceeded with a plan that would repay company investors before taxpayers if the company defaulted, and, again, that is the illegal aspect of this deal.

You will hear more, much more, on this scandal. Along with the Fast and Furious gun running scandal, the Administration may be facing a line of attack it had not planned on, as it charts its campaign strategies for 2012.

We can only hope for the best.