As the Solyndra scandal continues to unfold, Americans are clamoring for the President to take responsibility.  With more suspicious details coming to light, multiple entities have launched investigations—the FBI, the Inspector General of the Energy Department, the Inspector General of the Treasury Department, and the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee.  From what we’ve seen so far, the verdict seems pretty clear: the White House recklessly propped up Solyndra to please campaign backers and stage a political photo op.

Now that the White House has finally released some 900 pages of emails, it’s obvious the White House was playing favorites.  As the New York Times reported, one White House official emailed Solyndra to say “we’re cheering for you.”  Other emails include messages from Solyndra officials that misrepresented the state of the company’s affairs, saying things like “things are going well” and touting themselves as “a true success story.”

Meanwhile, outside groups were sounding the alarm.  PricewaterhouseCoopers stated back in 2010 that there was “substantial doubt” about the company’s viability.  Groups such as the credit-rating agency Fitch gave Solyndra non-investment grade ratings in 2008.  The White House turned a blind eye, and chose to believe what they wanted.  Instead of being cautious investors, they became the company’s top-cheerleaders, as I mentioned in my POLITICO op-ed Wednesday.

Yet even in the face of this evidence, they absolutely refuse to take responsibility.  They’ve tried desperately to shift the blame.  First, they said they rushed the loan because of scheduling difficulties.  Then, they claimed the loan was “high risk, high reward” prospect in the first place.  They tried to blame the Bush administration.  When that didn’t work, they took aim at their own Energy Department.   Now, they’re simply trying to say “no one” is to blame.

This is all too typical for this President and his White House.  When they make mistakes, they search for scapegoats.  For a White House that prided itself on being the most transparent in history, there is a shocking lack of accountability.
Americans deserve answers.  The President should be direct with the country about what went wrong.  After all, how can we trust him with a new $447 billion stimulus when there’s proof that the first one was so badly mishandled?  This is but one example of corruption; how many more are out there?

With those questions in mind, the RNC launched a petition for voters to tell the President to come clean.   If you want answers, if you want this White House to be held accountable, I encourage you to sign it.  We have to put an end to this type of self-dealing pay-for-play politics.  It does nothing to help the economy or create jobs; it’s just another way the President is desperately trying to keep his.