…Steven Rattner.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece outlining five steps a House GOP majority should undertake to change the game in Washington and govern in spite of President Obama. In that piece, the first step I outlined was The Inquisition, a flurry of investigations into the misdeeds of the Pelosi Congress and the Obama administration. While that’s an impolitic and sure-to-be-villified activity the left-wing media will have a field day with, if it’s done correctly it will have the effect of burning down the public’s tolerance for Democrats in any elected branch of government.

Rattner, a hedge-fund scumbag and Democrat fundraiser who was rewarded for his service with a gig as Obama’s car czar, is out with a new book which contains some pretty strong stuff casting the administration in a toxic light. The Huffington Post got hold of a copy and throws out the following tidbits…

-When Obama was told of the plan to pay GM CEO Rick Wagoner a $7.1 million severance package after Obama ordered that he be sacked, Rattner writes: “Suddenly I felt that I was indeed in the presence of a community organizer…”

-Rattner describes presidential political adviser David Axelrod coming to car meetings armed with poll data to support the takeover and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel identify Congressmen in whose districts large Chrysler facilities were located.

-”[Obama’s economic team] veered dangerously close to having the government take control of the two most troubled banks, Bank of America and Citigroup.”

-”If his team had linked arms with the outgoing administration, as President Bush’s advisers had proposed, billions of dollars could well have been saved.”

-Rattner says Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual dictated Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s schedule, public appearances and staff selections.

-He says Obama economic advisers Larry Summers and Austan Goolsbee and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair as (sic)enemies who slowed down decision making with infighting

-Rattner said Obama was frustrated with the auto companies from the start: “Why can’t they make a Corolla?” he has Obama asking.

If these snippets are an indication of what’s in that book, Rattner needs to be sworn in and grilled – immediately following the GOP’s House takeover if it happens.

Perhaps no illegal activity could be proven with a House GOP investigation into the auto bailouts and takeovers engineered by the Obama administration last year, but certainly given the secretive and extralegal way those policies were enacted it’s well worth delving into the president’s use of TARP funds for purposes not intended in the legislation.

It’s politically risky to commence investigations of the other side, but sunlight is the best disinfectant. And given the multiplicity of smelly practices we’ve seen from the Obama administration and its Congressional allies – with the auto bailouts prominent among them – a GOP House engaged in trench warfare with the president and his veto pen would be doing a public service by setting the record straight about exactly what has been emanating from the White House.