A. BARTON HINKLE: Obama’s Crony Capitalism: What the Solyndra debacle reveals about Obama’s economic strategy.

Viewed in isolation, the Solyndra story is mildly troubling. But it is nothing Washington has not seen before. The late, great columnist Molly Ivins wrote some crackerjack pieces about the return on investment that corporate sharpies used to get from their campaign donations to Republican politicians. The Solyndra story sounds like the same old, same old.

Except it isn’t. The Solyndra story encapsulates a much bigger issue than mere crony capitalism, bad as that is. Because Solyndra is not alone. The Obama administration has sunk billions into loan guarantees for dozens of other renewable-energy companies as well.

This is known as the political allocation of economic resources, and it entails all kinds of problems. The first and most basic: It’s wrong. Government should not be picking winners and losers in the marketplace.

Problem No. 2: corruption.

Whether that’s a bug or a feature depends on your attitude. Consider this passage from Holman Jenkins’ more-honest rewrite of Obama’s jobs speech:

I am not anti-business. I get a supreme sense of satisfaction when business leaders approach me and, in a deferential manner, ask for subsidies and regulatory favors that will determine whether their companies succeed or fail. Like solar subsidies. This is the kind of job creation I’m interested in.

My administration has taken flak because of our “investment” of tax dollars in a solar company that last week filed for bankruptcy. Don’t be misled. If such companies were profitable and could survive without subsidies, they would not be fit objects of government charity, nor would their leaders approach me with a deferential mien.

Their dependency is what makes them loyal constituents, generous with a campaign donation, willing to go on CNBC and praise our policies. You can always count on me for job creation when it means taking money from independent businesses, those that are answering the call of the marketplace, and giving it to dependent businesses, those that are answering the call of government.

That does capture the spirit pretty well.

UPDATE: Reader Scott Adcox emails: “What disturbs me most about the gov’ment picking winners and losers its uncanny knack of picking mostly losers. Someone should start a mutual fund that does nothing but short companies this administration talks up.” You’d probably be investigated by the SEC.