Halliburton's income from the Irag and Afhgan wars makes Solyndra look like a rounding error.
Reagan sold weapons to the Iranians.
Clinton was paid millions to pardon felons.
Get real, fellas!
If the best you can come up with is Solyndra, Obama will wind up on Mount Rushmore

In the case of Haliburton, there is a question of the # of firms that were capable of providing comparable services/offerings. I'm not stating with certainty one way or the other, but there's a least a question. There's no question here that multiple firms were qualified for this.

As for the actions of past presidents - Reagan/Clinton/Bush happen NOT to be the objective standard by which to evaluate Barack Obama. I evaluate Barack Obama by one standard - the standard he set for himself when he ran for president in 2008 and 2012. I submit to you he has failed miserably.

If it were JUST Solyndra, it wouldn't be as bad. Here's the issue - they gave stimulus money to the tune of billions to over 2 dozen companies, most of which have either filed for bankruptcy, are in the process, or at the very least are in distress mode. Even his own advisors counseled Obama against giving money out so freely to companies that weren't impressive.

I have said this before and I will say it again - here is where Barack Obama demonstrated his complete lack of experience as an executive. If we put this in the context of our profession - if someone wanted to demonstrate an alternate form of development methodology, how could one prove the merits? Perhaps by taking one aspect and building a prototype, and setting up some outcome-based incentives for funding. After the prototype is finished, you re-evaluate. This is project management 101.

I find it disappointing that some who would place a magnifying class over project initiatives of others, and yet accept this president's actions with complete blind and undiscerning faith. Had the administration put the money into 1 or 2 of the "best" companies and tied the money to some outcomes, it would have demonstrated more wisely that the companies were either worth investing in, or not. But no - our federal govt had to throw away billions in stimulus funds - with ultimately very little to show for it at the federal level (other than providing some marginal benefit to foreign countries).

So it was not "just" Solyndra.