Today, the Romney campaign released a new video, “Not Even Half” taking President Obama to task for the billions of taxpayer dollars he has given to companies that later failed — including companies that were run by Democrat donors:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/OQUyS9H6ioI[/youtube]

• Solyndra: $535 Million in taxpayer loan guarantees – Bankrupt.

• First Solar: $3 Billion in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees – Cutting jobs and stock near all-time low.

• ECOtality: $126 million in taxpayer money – Lost $45 million and under investigation.

• SunPower: More than a billion dollars in loan guarantees – Lost half a billion last year and laying off workers.

In his Newsweek article, “Obama Campaign Backers And Bundlers Rewarded With Green Grants And Loans,” Peter Schweizer noted that more than $16 billion dollars went to companies like Solyndra that are linked to big Obama and Democrat donors:

“In the 1705 government-backed-loan program, for example, $16.4 billion of the $20.5 billion in loans granted as of Sept. 15 went to companies either run by or primarily owned by Obama financial backers-individuals who were bundlers, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, or large donors to the Democratic Party.”

According to Schweizer, the appearance of impropriety was so bad that “the Department of Energy’s inspector general, Gregory Friedman, chastised the alternative-energy loan and grant programs for their absence of ‘sufficient transparency and accountability.'”

We are just passed Memorial Day weekend and the presidential campaign appears top have been framed. With Obama attacking Romney for his private equity experience at Bain Capital, and Romney attacking Obama for his public equity adventures as president is the campaign going to be Romney’s private equity vs. Obama’s public equity?

Romney laid out this comparison in his “Obama’s Government-Centered Society” speech he gave after sweeping the primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C.:

“The president has pledged to transform America. And he’s spent the last four years laying the foundation for a new government-centered society. I will spend the next four years rebuilding the foundation of an opportunity society led by free people and free enterprises.”

Just as the T.E.A. Party folks would have it, the campaign is going to be about the size of government.

Obama would have you believe that Romney’s private equity experience is somehow disqualifying because in making companies stronger some folks lost jobs.

Congressman Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, blew that ridiculous Obama argument away during an appearance on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”:

“You’re going to have some casualties, but that’s exactly what we need in Washington and why I’m so delighted to support Gov. Romney. He understands that our government has gotten too big, there are agencies that need to be reformed, closed, combined, something the president has talked about but hasn’t done.

[. . .]

There’s got to be a way to take money out of GSA and other agencies that are throwing fancy parties and make it available for the essential services that the American people want. It’s not nice, it’s not easy to lay people off, but it’s the right thing to do if you’ve got a bloated government. That’s what Gov. Romney promises to do.”

How else will we ever reduce the size of the federal government and end Obama’s $trillion dollar deficits for years to come?