Obama Biden Watch

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Volume 3 www.obamabidenwatch.org Issue 9 September 2011 www.citizensunited.org The“Kaiser”SozeofObamaland When President Obama was elected he promised to was flawed. This was clear to Wall Street, this was usher in a new way of doing business in Washington. clear to senior government officials, but this was not Well past the half way point of his administration, it clear to the White House. is clear that much like his promises of “Hope” and “Change,” a new Washington was little more than Solyndra sought funding to build a plant to produce empty rhetoric. its unique brand of solar panels. It went to Wall Street, but was largely rebuffed. The most optimistic Obama pledged to ban lobbyists from serving in his response Solyndra received was from Dun & Brad- administration, but granted waivers to the lobbyists street which rated the company as “fair.” The ratings he wanted on his team. He pledged to make the agency Fitch, rated Solyndra a B+, one of its most White House more transparent by placing its visitor speculative ratings. One distinct problem for Solyn- logs on the internet, but his clever staff hosted meet- dra was the excessive cost of its unique solar panels. ings with lobbyists at local coffee shops, free from the burdens of disclosure. His reform rhetoric has Absent broad Wall Street support, Solyndra looked to masked the fact that his administration is actively dol- the government for assistance. During the Bush Ad- ing out favors to entrenched special interests and his ministration Solyndra was denied loans by the Energy political supporters. Department. The Office of Management and Budget recognized that Solyndra was too high a risk to move The most glaring example of President Obama’s forward. “reformed” Washington, is how his political staff over stepped its boundaries to secure government Once the Obama Administration ushered in its new support for a green energy startup funded by one of way of doing business in Washington, things started Obama’s biggest financial backers. The startup was to look brighter for Solyndra. Despite Wall Street’s named Solyndra. Financed by Obama funder George negative views of the company and its costly solar Kaiser, Solyndra produced solar panels for mounting panels, Solyndra found support within Obama’s on rooftops. They sold a dream – that you could White House for its expansion plans. transform the large empty rooftop square footage into a lean, mean, energy-producing machine. This The Department of Energy and the Office of Manage- dream, much like Obama’s promises of hope and ment and Budget took a new look at the Solyndra change, was never realized. loan. This time they reached a different conclusion: they would support the proposal. This decision was While the dream of Solyndra warms the hearts of the not fully vetted because Al Gores of the world, the reality is that the business senior political officials Continued on the next page...

© CitizensUnited~1006PennsylvaniaAveSE~WashingtonD.C.20003 Page2 in the Obama Administration demanded the decision be In this Issue made on a truncated timetable. The reason for the rush – Vice The “Kaiser” Soze of President Joe Biden planned to Obamaland attend the groundbreaking Pg. 1 ceremony of the new Solyndra plant and wanted to announce Solyndra: Spawn of the government’s support of Stimulus the program. This political Pg. 3 maneuvering helped secure Solyndra a $527 million dollar The Obama Record: More loan guarantee. To sweeten the Speeches, Fewer Jobs pot even further, the Obama Pg. 4 Administration tailored the loan in such a way that if Israel At A Crossroads Solyndra went bankrupt, inves- Pg. 5 tors like George Kaiser would be bailed out first with taxpay- The Solyndra Scandal Highlights Why 9/11: Past, Present, ers left holding the bag. This is crony Obama’s Stimulus Is A Failure and Future capitalism at its worse because the Pg. 6 American taxpayer gets hurt in the end. Citizens United Presents So how do you secure such special treatment from the government for a flawed Pg. 7 startup company? If you’re George Kaiser, it begins with donating $53,500 in support of President Obama’s 2008 campaign. That kind of money buys you Final Thoughts access in Obama’s “reformed” Washington. Then you grease the wheels by Pg. 8 donating $10,000 to Michelle Obama’s pet project , the University of Chicago’s ______Urban Health Initiative. Drop by the White House a couple of times and meet with Valerie Jarrett who also worked with the University of Chicago’s Urban Published By Heath Initiative. Finally, you promise Joe Biden a nice press event where he Citizens United can feel presidential. If you follow the Kaiser/Solyndra model, maybe you too can get the Obama Administration to bail out your failing business! Editor David N. Bossie

The whole $38.6 billion green jobs loan program has been a total failure. Presi- Managing Editor dent Obama promised that the program would create or save 65,000 jobs. Gov- J.T. Mastranadi ernment records indicate that the program has only created an anemic 3,500 jobs. The American taxpayer has been hoodwinked by this failed program that Contributors cost billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Chris Berg Jeff Marschner Solyndra suspended its operations on August 31 st sending 1,100 workers to the Alexa Coombs unemployment line. Congressional investigators must get to the bottom of this growing scandal. President Obama and all those who had a hand in this failed Publication Design company must be held accountable for the failed program that has cost billions Kirk Risinger of dollars in taxpayer money. President Obama was elected on the mantle that Jennifer Humphrey he was reformer. I guess he could not shake the corrupt Chicago way when he came to Washington. Copyright © 2011 by Citizens United

highest levels of the White House. The American people In early September, President Obama finally unveiled his deserve answers from the Obama Administration. What jobs plan: a new $447 “stimulus” package. The President did President Obama and his cronies know and when did exhorted Congress to “Pass this bill!” but Americans they know it? aren’t ready for another round of “stimulus” – we’re still trying to recover from the consequences of the last one, The L.A.Times reported that at an October 2010 White which cost nearly twice as much. House meeting Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Na-

tional Economic Council advisor Lawrence Summers In 2009, President Obama rushed the stimulus bill warned that the vetting process for the loans wasn’t rigor- through Congress without even allowing the time for de- ous enough. Their concerns were well founded as the bate or the appropriate safeguards to be built. The origi- Solyndra loan had already been rushed through approval nal Obama stimulus plan was nothing but a lesson in how for a political photo op – just in time for Vice President to waste almost a trillion dollars in taxpayer funds. Presi- Joe Biden to announce the government’s support of the dent Obama’s liberal ideology tells him he’s smarter than program at the ground breaking ceremony of a new the free market system, the system that’s made America Solyndra plant in 2009. Rushing taxpayer funded loans the greatest economic superpower the world has ever out the door in an attempt to prove your economic plan known. Allowing the federal government to decide isn’t a failure is irresponsible and incompetent. where taxpayer money is sent to “stimulate” certain sectors of the economy simply creates new opportunities for Solyndra is a scandal that will be with the Obama White waste and abuse, like we’ve seen in the case of the re- House throughout the 2012 election cycle, because it cently bankrupt solar power company Solyndra. demonstrates why his $787 billion stimulus was a total

waste of taxpayer money. The American people deserve Solyndra was one of the first “green” companies to be to know the facts of this case. The House Energy Sub- awarded a $527 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan via committee on Oversight and Investigations has held a President Obama’s last “stimulus” plan. The California hearing on Solyndra but the CEO and CFO of the com- based company was supposed to be the success model for pany stonewalled by invoking the Fifth Amendment 20 President Obama’s clean energy jobs program, but instead times. What are they refusing to tell Congress about that its failure left 1,100 people unemployed and taxpayers on could be so incriminating? the hook for a half billion dollars.

The half a billion dollar loan to Solyndra is just a fraction What’s worse is that one of the President’s major cam- of the whole stimulus-funded $38.6 billion green jobs paign contributors - George Kaiser - was Solyndra’s big- loan program, which was bad policy from the start. Some gest shareholder. The loan to Solyndra was specially “clean” energy companies even turned down loans after structured to benefit investors like Kaiser in the event of applying because the terms were too inflexible for the bankruptcy, at the expense of the taxpayers. startups to make the necessary changes and improvements

to keep their products competitive in a new and fast- Kaiser even greased the wheels to gain favor with the changing market. This one-size-fits-all approach is typi- Obama Administration by donating $10,000 to the Urban cal of government programs and shows why the govern- Health Initiative, a program Michelle Obama helped to ment should not be picking winners and losers. These create at the University of Chicago Medical Center, in the decisions should be left to the free market, where bad same year Solyndra sought and received the loan. Con- business models can fail on their own, without taxpayers veniently enough, Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s top left holding the bag. political advisor David Axelrod, and Obama’s very good friend Eric Whitaker also worked with the Urban Heath With massive failures like these, America cannot afford Initiative. another “stimulus.” This time we have to tell our repre-

sentatives, “Pass on this bill!” Using taxpayer funds to reward contributors is an outrage

FewerJobs The President’s latest “jobs” plan once again calls for extending unemployment benefits and sending more hand- If a $787 billion stimulus didn’t work in 2009, why would outs to big labor for infrastructure projects and failing pub- a $447 billion stimulus work in 2011? Mr. Obama’s lic teachers’ unions. President Obama, the liberal’s liberal, dwindling numbers of supporters are giddy that he deliv- just can’t wrap his head around the notion that extending ered yet another rousing speech in early September, but unemployment benefits ad infinitum fosters a culture of everyone else is wondering how this stimulus will bring government dependency that makes people less likely to unemployment down and how it will be “paid for.” We’ve ever look for a job. Furthermore, allowing the federal gov- been down this stimulus road before and all we have to ernment to decide where taxpayer money is sent to show for it is more Obama speeches and fewer jobs. Our “stimulate” certain sectors of the economy creates situa- country is desperate for bold leadership and big ideas that tions like in the case of the recently bankrupt solar power will change the failing status quo. company Solyndra.

It didn’t happen because the President’s number one con- Solyndra was given a $527 million taxpayer-funded loan cern is getting re-elected. Mr. Obama supplied further evi- via Mr. Obama’s last “stimulus” plan. The California dence for this charge by sending out a campaign email to based company was supposed to be a shining success story supporters just prior to the speech that stated, “If you’re for President Obama’s clean energy jobs program, but in- with me, let me know. And the campaign will make sure stead it left over 1,000 people without jobs and taxpayers you are looped into our efforts to support this plan.” on the hook for a half billion dollar failure. What’s worse How exactly does the billions in new taxpayer-funded gov- is that one of the President’s big campaign contributors, ernment spending President Obama proposed on Septem- George Kaiser, was Solyndra’s biggest shareholder. Re- ber 8th mesh with the Super Committee’s mission to find cords indicate that Mr. Kaiser and other Solyndra officials $1.2 trillion in budget cuts over the next 10 years? Citi- frequented the executive mansion to meet with senior zens United is closely monitoring the Super Committee Obama officials such as Rahm Emanuel and Valerie proceedings and has sent 15,000 signed petitions to De- Jarrett. Congress and the FBI are investigating who knew mocrat members Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Chris Van what and when, but it’s abundantly clear that the blame for Hollen urging them to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. this debacle leads straight to the White House. This Americans are struggling and one of the ways to help our shameful episode highlights the obvious: President Obama economy is to guarantee our citizens and businesses that and his administration equal business as usual in Washing- their taxes aren’t going up. It’s common sense that eco- ton and trillions worth of government “stimulus” plans nomic uncertainty discourages investment and growth. don’t create jobs. Thanks to President Obama, nine per- cent unemployment is here to stay. Unfortunately, President Obama once again called for tax increases to pay for his latest spending binge. Mr. Obama himself has said in the past that raising taxes in the midst of the awful Obama Recession would be counter- productive. What has changed? If anything, the economic climate is deteriorating. Not to mention, neither the Debt Super Committee nor the U.S. House of Representatives will agree to tax increases of any kind. So why did the President bother to put it in the speech? Perhaps Mr. Obama’s big labor bosses Richard Trumka and Jim Hoffa should be queried on this point. It was telling to see Mr. Trumka in the audience making sure the President didn’t say anything against his wishes. President Obama, our most liberal president ever, could not muster the political President Obama giving yet another jobs speech to a joint courage to offer any innovative or new ideas that might session of Congress.

© CitizensUnited~1006PennsylvaniaAveSE~WashingtonD.C.20003 Page5 IsraelAtACrossroads ganda piece when denouncing Israel. This ridiculous document shows how much the U.N. is broken and it is a further stain on the assembly that it is set to reaffirm the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he will DDPA on its 10 th anniversary. seek Palestinian statehood from the United Nations in this session. This dangerous pronouncement puts into stark Israel is America’s greatest ally in the Middle East. Un- relief the damage the Obama Administration has done be- fortunately, President Obama and members of his admini- cause of its standoffish posture towards Israel. Back in stration do not seem to value our strategic partnership and the spring, President Obama threw Israel under the pro- Israel’s unique position of being threatened with annihila- verbial bus when he suggested the country go back to its tion by its enemies. Americans understand the need to de- 1967 borders. The idea was met with fierce opposition fend Israel, this was borne out in a special election in Sep- from supporters of Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Ben- tember when a Republican won a House seat in a deep jamin Netanyahu calling the 1967 borders “indefensible.” blue Congressional district in New York City. Former

New York City Mayor Ed Koch – a lifelong Democrat – Actions have consequences and the Obama Administra- endorsed the Republican because he said he wanted to tion’s hostility towards Israel has led directly to this un- send a message to President Obama about his policies to- precedented request by Palestinian leaders. Maen Areikat, wards Israel. When Democrats like Ed Koch choose the the Palestinians’ top envoy to the United States, said the Republican candidate because of your stance on Israel, Obama “administration itself did not implicitly or explic- you have a serious problem. itly, directly or indirectly; threaten to take any punitive actions” when it came to advancing Palestinian statehood. This, along with a 2010 speech Obama gave to the Gen- eral Assembly, has been interpreted by the Palestinians as implicit permission to continue with their bid for statehood.

President Obama has promised to use the United States’ power as a permanent member of the United Nation’s Se- curity Council to veto Palestinian statehood, but the situation should never have escalated this high in the first place. The impotence of the Obama Administration’s dip- lomatic power was on full display when it failed in nego- tiations to persuade the Palestinians to drop their bid.

The Obama Administration is powerless but thankfully, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has proposed a bill to pull all U.N. funding if the member nations vote in favor of Palestinian statehood outside of a negotiated settlement with Israel. Get- ting tough with the anti-Israel U.N. is long overdue.

The Obama Administration Has Damaged Our The U.N. is set to advance another anti-Israel initiative Relationship With Israel with “Durban III,” the U.N. General Assembly’s third “anti-racism” conference. This first took place in Durban, South Africa, just days before September 11 th 2001, where It is time for the Obama Administration to finally wake up the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and see that its harmful stances towards Israel only hurt (DDPA) was adopted. The DDPA singled out only one the Jewish state and embolden its enemies. President state with charges of racism: Israel, for the “occupation” Obama must stop holding Israel at arm’s length, not only of “Palestine.” Unfortunately, leaders like Iranian Presi- for his own cynical electoral self-preservation but, be- dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad use the DDPA as a propa- cause it is the right thing to do.

gers of ignoring jihadists’ explicit threats against Amer- On the same day we heard reports that the Obama Ad- ica. ministration wants to draw down troop levels in Iraq from

45,000 to a dangerously low 3,000 by the end of the year, The 10 th anniversary of the September 11 th attacks should the Washington Post published an article titled “ Al-Qaeda remind us of the results of ignoring those threats. We can- in Iraq, down but hardly out .” not lapse into a pre-September 11 th mindset, we have to be

able to connect the dots and focus on preventing further The piece says, “They don’t need training camps like they attacks. Unfortunately, there has been an effort to obfus- had in Afghanistan pre-9/11, where they went around on cate the events leading up to September 11 th . The Clin- monkey bars. It wasn’t the monkey bar training that al- tons’ attempt to bury the historical docudrama ThePath lowed them to take down planes on 9/11, it was the ability To9/11, the destruction of original classified documents to sit and think of ways of hijacking an airplane.” related to terrorism by Clinton National Security Adviser

Sandy Berger, and the Clinton Administration’s repeated A major strategy of President Bush’s War on Terror was failure to take out Osama bin Laden are all detailed in our to go on the offense against terrorists and their spon- film BlockingThePathTo9/11 . These important pieces sors. We would take the fight to the terrorists on their of history cannot be allowed to be forgotten or we risk turf, disrupt their networks and put them on the run, leav- repeating the same mistakes in the future. ing them without the “ability to sit and think” of new ways to launch attacks here on our homeland. Just because the Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden

doesn’t mean the War on Terror is over. Al Qaeda is lick- The situation in Iraq remains fragile and we cannot allow ing its wounds in Iraq and elsewhere, just waiting for us to any action that would threaten the bloody, hard-fought turn our backs. This September 11 th we must resolve to gains made there. A troop drawdown risks giving Al- never turn our backs on the lessons of that day and never Qaeda an opportunity to regroup and plot their next acts of allow the sacrifices made over the last ten years to go in terror in America, not to mention giving a nuclear- vain. ambitious Iran an open invitation to increase its influence in Iraq. LearnmoreaboutthecurrentstateoftheWaronTerror

inCitizensUnitedProductions’film America At Risk and President Obama wants to cut and run and play de- theeventsleadinguptoSeptember11 th in Blocking The fense. He wants to prosecute the War on Terror in Ameri- Path To 9/11 . can courts, even bringing in dangerous terrorists, caught on foreign lands on the field of battle, and giving them the same Constitutional rights as American citizens.

How can we trust the Obama Administration with prose- cuting the War on Terror when they can’t even utter the phrase? “War on Terror” has been renamed the "Overseas Contingency Operation." They have removed "Islamic extremism" and "jihad" from national security strategy documents and proposed replacing the word "terrorism" with "man-caused disasters."

The Obama Administration’s refusal to name our enemies is the basis for our film AmericaAtRisk:TheWarWith oame. In the film, top terrorism experts, including former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, former UN Ambassador John Bolton, former CIA Direc-

Our newest documentary! A City Upon a Hill: The Spirit of American Exceptionalism

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© CitizensUnited~1006PennsylvaniaAveSE~WashingtonD.C.20003 Page8 FIALTHOUGHTFROM As it became clear that we had a deadly and determined CITIZESUITEDPRESIDET enemy to face, I hoped that DAVID.BOSSIE we as a nation would find the fortitude and persever-

ance that I knew this fight

would require. I suspected Dear Friend, that the focused anger we

felt in the days and weeks The Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001 is a day following the horrific at- still seared into my mind and heart. On that fateful tacks would eventually fade morning, the financial and military centers of our great away for some, but we can- nation were attacked by Islamic terrorists who wanted not let time diminish the significance of this attack and to destroy the freedoms that we all hold so dear. It was how, in the span of a few seconds, the world forever also the day on which the first battle of the War on Terror was won by ordinary citizens on United Flight changed. 93 fighting back against a suicide mission to attack the political center of our country – the United States On September 11 th America was attacked by an enemy Capitol building. that had already been at war with us for decades, but our political leaders refused to acknowledge that radical During that morning I learned that Barbara Olson, a Islamists wanted to destroy America and will not stop until they have won. The War on Terrorism is not just a very dear friend of mine, had perished on American slogan, it is a reality of the world in which we live. Airlines Flight 77 – the flight that hit the Pentagon. Citizens United Productions’ documentary Americaat Barbara and I worked on the Clinton investigations to- gether in the 1990s for the House Government Reform Risk details the ongoing threat to our security and liveli- and Oversight Committee. She was a tough litigator hood and explains what must be done to win this war. The film investigates the roots of radical Islam’s hatred and a conservative stalwart. In the final minutes of her of the West. This extremist thinking is pure evil and life, Barbara relayed vital information from the plane to her husband, Ted Olson, President Bush’s Solicitor paved the way for the attacks on September 11, 2001. General at the time. Barbara had such a kind heart and her loss still has a profound effect on me today. On September 11 th the terrorists tried to make America cower in the face of evil, but they failed because the American spirit is much greater than the terrorists ever Watching the news throughout the day, I had hoped that there would be many more survivors found at the Penta- thought it could be. Like previous foes, in previous gon, World Trade Center and Shanksville, Pa., but in wars, the terrorists made the mistake of waking up a sleeping giant. Never forget September 11, 2001, and the end those hopes were dashed as nearly 3,000 people may God continue to bless the United States of perished at the hands of Al Qaeda. As a firefighter in Montgomery County, Maryland, I will never forget the America. selfless sacrifices made by the 343 members of the FDNY and the other first responders who perished so th Sincerely, others could live on September 11 . Those brave men and women ran into the burning towers to save their fel- David N. Bossie low citizens from certain death, showing the world what the word “hero” truly means.