Koch-backed group Americans for Prosperity hits Obama on Solyndra (video)

The collapse of Solyndra, President Obama’s favorite solar panel company, has become a favorite chew toy for the commander-in-chief’s right wing opposition. And why not?

Conservatives had been waiting for a misstep ever since Solyndra was first awarded that $535 million Department of Energy loan guarantee in 2009. In addition to dealing in green energy — cue right wing boos — Solyndra was an especially juicy target because Obama himself appeared at the California-based factory in May 2010 to deliver a speech praising the company’s place in 21st century America.

“The promise of clean energy isn’t just an article of faith, it’s not just some abstract possibility for science fiction movies or a distant future or 10 years down the road or 20 years, it’s happening right now. The future is here.” The future was not there. Solyndra declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy last summer, resulting in 1,100 job losses and a huge loss of tax-payer money. Cue a right wing cheer!

GOP-aligned pundits lambasted the president, of course, and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa instantly laid the groundwork for hearings that House Speaker John Boehner later promised would be “relentless.” News that Obama donor and businessman George Kaiser’s non-profit had invested in Solyndra and that administration officials had privately fretted over the company’s future were simply icing on the cake.

Now that we’re neck deep in election season and its advertorial droppings, CNN reports that Americans for Prosperity has spent $6 million to run a new ad in Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan and Iowa highlighting Solyndra’s failure, and Obama’s alleged complicity.

Says the minute-long ad’s narrator, hitting all the scandalous talking point sweet spots, “We all know about Solyndra. The White House emails. The FBI raids. Solyndra investors raised campaign money for Obama. The government gives Solyndra half a billion in taxpayer money. Politics as usual.” He then grimly reminds voters that Solyndra delayed announcing layoffs until after the election, and points out that 90% of the company’s employees are still out of work.

But it’s the commercial’s final line, “Tell President Obama American workers aren’t pawns in your political games,” that is perhaps the most notable sound bite. Not because America’s workers, largely lower-to-middle class, are here being used as a pawn — the very same offense of which Obama is allegedly guilty — but because of Americans For Prosperity’s history.

AFP is the conservative spawn of the group Citizens for a Sound Economy’s 2004 schism. One half became former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks, currently a big spender for Tea Party causes, and the other became AFP, founded and funded by reliable and rich Republican donors David and Charles Koch.

They and the gobs of cash from their eponymous, multi-tentacled company, Koch Industries, also helped craft and implement the GOP’s war on collective bargaining and the PAC donated to some of the nation’s most anti-labor lawmakers, like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Now their non-profit off-spring is claiming their preferred candidate — anyone but Obama — is the true savior America’s work force needs. ‘Dirty Jobs’ host Mike Rowe should be taking a tour of AFP’s offices — or, better yet, the Koch Brothers’ — because this is a slimy and, worst still, predictable attack. (AFP previously ran a similar commercial last November, before 2012 madness had fully infected the nation.)

Yet, for all its rankness, the AFP’s advert still makes a valid point: the White House’s relationship with Solyndra deserves a raised eyebrow or two, but isn’t that the nature of business? Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you fail; now, let’s see whether AFP’s effort does its job, or if voters will tune out what amounts to a minor blip on the economic radar.

Here’s the AFP ad for your edification: