Don't Let the Door Hit You on Your Way Out, Energy Secretary Chu

Energy Secretary Steven Chu is jumping ship, ah, leaving the Obama administration to spend more time with his family, or maybe to cash in on his Federal government experience, or …whatever. The Washington Post reports that in his departure letter to the DOE staff Chu writes: "I came with dreams and am leaving with a set of accomplishments that we should all be proud of." Can you say, "Solyndra?"

In any case, to mark Chu's departure, the free market Institute for Energy Research is sending around this missive from its Senior Vice President Daniel Kish:

"As Secretary Steven Chu leaves the Department of Energy, it is important to measure his tenure by his record. Under his watch, energy consumption in the United States declined by 2.24 percent while our leading economic competitor, China, increased energy consumption by 28 percent. Similarly, GDP growth in the United States has limped along at the anemic annual rate of 0.6 percent while China's economy has soared at the annual rate of 9.12 percent, more than 15 times our own. Clearly, the policies and priorities of Steven Chu's energy department have benefitted our global competitors and intensified the economic pain felt by millions of unemployed Americans."

That's not completely fair since not everything that went wrong with our economy during the past four years can be blamed on just Secretary Chu.