
This should take care of your Van jones.
There is mounting pressure from the right to have the President’s special adviser on green jobs, Van Jones, served up on the ol’ Underbus Platter. I say he should promote him. Sure, “Mom Czar” is one idea. He could be in charge of making sure that all Americans at least listen to their mothers, even if they don’t comply.
I think Jones is uniquely qualified for this, having discovered what happens when you don’t read something before you sign it, but I would settle for any promotion.
Jones is the right wing’s current shrieking point, an Obama appointee who is being targeted because his signature appeared on a 9/11 “Truther” petition. At face value, it’s weak sauce, but Jake Tapper and others have added considerable water to the now thin broth.
When I first heard about this, I applied the standard righty litmus test: What if this had been a Bush appointee (perhaps signing a Vince Foster petition?)? I really gave it some thought, and it led me to two conclusions. First, there would have been a round of blog posts on Crooks and Liars, TPM, Huffington Post, et al, but I seriously doubt anyone would have even asked Bush about it. There are a hundred stories like this that never went anywhere.
My second conclusion was that the media plays along because of Bush. They let the worst President in history walk all over them for 7 years, catching on only after the rest of us had moved on. Now, they are applying the level of scrutiny that Bush deserved to Barack Obama. Normally, you would need a reason to give a shit that a peripheral appointee signed a politically charged petition once, but because the media blew it so badly with Bush, the Spidey sense is tingling.
The right, desperate to erase the Bush stain, starts with the assumption that Obama is worse, then builds the facts around that conclusion. They forget that Bush earned his dirty diapers.
The President has taken the path of least resistance in these matters in the past, preferring to let controversial aides and appointees step aside to avoid “becoming a distraction.” Early indications here portend more of the same. While there has been some wisdom to this in the past, I think this time, the President ought to show the shrill wingnuts who’s boss. Hell, make Jones the Gun Control Czar, that’ll show ’em.
September 5, 2009
Categories: Uncategorized . Tags: Barack Obama, President Obama, van jones . Author: Tommy Christopher . Comments: 11 Comments
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