Why would someone in the White House think that a political slogan like "Winning the Future" is a good idea, particularly when it's the title of a 2006 book written by someone who has a teeny-tiny chance of challenging your boss in 2012 - not to mention the acronym it forms?

Nonetheless, I present you with this WTF example, brought to you courtesy of President Obama and his minions, which I will subtitle "Winning The Future with Crony Capitalism".

When BP's Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico blew out last April, the Obama Administration immediately suspended processing of all new deepwater drilling permits and also shut down all of their competitor's deepwater drilling operations in the Gulf, sending 30,000 workers to the unemployment lines. Critics rightfully charged that this was an over-reaction on the part of the President and his Energy Secretary, since responsibility should be specific, not collective. The FAA doesn't shut down all airline operations when there is a plane crash, instead they sometimes ground specific types of aircraft like the one involved to perform inspections while the crash is investigated. However, that's apparently just the way this Administration rolls when it comes to environmental disasters and energy policy, so we just need to get over it..

Then during the deepwater drilling ban, President Obama formed a commission and charged them with investigating the BP Macondo blowout and the massive oil spill that followed. The Commission uncovered a series of mistakes and failed judgment calls by BP. They also found that compared to their competitors, BP had a much worse long-term company safety record.

Now the Obama Administration is beginning to issue new permits for deepwater drilling in the Gulf and guess who was issued the very first one on Monday of this week? Answer: BP and their partner, Noble Energy.

Perhaps it's just a co-incidence, even though BP, along with GE, Goldman Sachs and others, have all been long-time supporters of Obama's green initiatives and their attached subsidies.

However, U.S. Rep. Ed Markey [[D-Mass.) felt compelled to note that, "the optics of this situation contain their own special irony".

Bonus question: Energy Secretary Steven Chu's deputy is a gentleman named Steven E. Koonin. For what company did Mr. Koonin used to be the chief scientist?