Romney's stealth appearance at Solyndra

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Finding himself unable to run on his record, Candidate Obama tries to snuggle up to various voting groups. But being Obama, he can't keep his ego from jumping into things. So he doesn't pretend to be a mere friend of Jews; he has to ludicrously hold himself up as an expert on Judaism. And he can't humbly honor American military service members who died in Viet Nam. He has to superimpose his glorious self over their sacrifice. Behold the White House photo of the day on Memorial Day:

Ed Morrissey:

The takeaway image of Memorial Day for the Obama White House is the silhouette of non-veteran Obama on a memorial to war dead, complete with glowing halo around his head? Oooooooooo-keedokee.

Today's jobs numbers can only increase his desperation. Philip Klein calls them a train wreck:

The U.S. economy added just 69,000 jobs in May, well below expectations of 150,000 job gains, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. . . .
The awful numbers, coming on top of a downward revision in first quarter economic growth to 1.9 percent, make President Obama's reelection campaign a lot more difficult and play right into the hands of Mitt Romney's economic message.

In case you missed it, here's Romney's stealth appearance at Solyndra:

“It’s a symbol not of success but of failure,” he said. “It’s also a symbol of a serious conflict of interest. An independent inspector general looked at this investment and concluded that the administration had steered money to friends and family – to campaign contributors. This building, this half a billion dollar taxpayer investment, represents a serious conflict of interest on the part of the president and his team.”

“It’s also a symbol of how the president thinks about free enterprise,” said Romney. “Free enterprise to the president means taking money from the taxpayers and giving it freely to his friends.”

“I’m afraid the reason that the stimulus has been unsuccessful, that the turnaround has taken so long to occur, that the recovery has been tepid, is that the president fails to understand the basic nature of free enterprise in America.”

I also note how damaging a decision like this is for free enterprise generally. What you’re saying to other inventors, to other entrepreneurs, particularly in the solar space, is that the best way to get ahead is not with the best ideas and the best technology and the best people and the best marketing, but instead with the best lobbyists. That is not the nature of how America works.

It shouldn't be. Another important point:

You realize that if the business had done spectacularly well the shareholders, his friends, would have done very very well, but the taxpayers would have just gotten their money back. On the other hand, of course, if the business failed, as it did, its the taxpayers that get stuck with losing a half a billion dollars. So its heads and his cronies win, and tails and the taxpayers lose.

Bingo. It's bad business, bad for individuals and for the economy, and corrupt to boot. This may be Mitt at his best, speaking with clarity and authority on the vitally important issue of free enterprise, and thereby highlighting the contrast between himself and his opponent. Watch the Romney campaign's related ad here. *Edited to link to a second ad, here. One detail not mentioned in either:

CBO Report Estimates Obama’s Stimulus Could Have Cost Over $4 Million Per Job

Read that again. $4 million per job. That's an astounding failure. In a sane world that number alone would be enough to disqualify Obama from further public "service." But in the real world he's still in the running and planning to appear at a record SIX fundraisers today. (Hope he saves some strength for his usual five hours of weekend golf.)

Posted in: Barack Obama,Economy,Green Jobs,Mitt Romney,Solyndra,Video