Yesterday morning I was listening to two progressive radio personalities out of Vermont talk about the Van Jones resignation; Mr. Jones resigned "under the cover of darkness", as they say, at about midnight -- seriously -- early Sunday morning.
What was just delicious is that these two personalities -- both seemingly omniscient and righteous on all things political -- pretended not to know the name of the "guy" who resigned. They feigned stumbling over his name: to know his name would be to admit he was important, that the whole thing was relevant, significant, interesting. Their pretended ignorance trivialized something not one whit trivial to conservatives, or anyone with a thinking brain.
And if they did not truly know Mr. Jones' name, or what the issues were, then they have no right being on the air. None.
Van Jones' resignation should be huge news, but it isn't. Even the major news outlets ignored it until he had, finally, resigned. Amazingly, even the New York Times could not muster a defense of Mr. Jones beforehand; few, if any, trundled out the "Mr. Jones is black and he is being vilified by racists" news angle. No, Mr. Jones just quietly came and quietly went away ... under the cover of darkness.
What a pernicious darkness it is.
Perhaps the media ignored him because he could be used as a distraction so something else could be pushed upon the American people. Perhaps Mr. Jones was a bone thrown to the Republican dogs whose jaws hunger for something on which to gnaw; and while chewing on that bone, perhaps the critics of Mr. Obama will not discern the burglar sneaking in behind the house.
Perhaps. But I will not explore such a conspiracy. Instead, I will note that Mr. Obama did himself no favors by hiring, and then NOT firing, Mr. Jones. Mr. Obama may not have been at his best when he appointed Mr. Jones as "Green Jobs Czar", but surely he could have been far closer to his best by coming out and denouncing Mr. Jones' demonstrably extremist views. Mr. Jones should have been immediately and decisively fired; to accept his resignation is to accept him -- "in better circumstances." Mr. Jones' resignation should not have even been an option: he should have been out of the White House before he could have offered his insane "if I have offended anyone, then I am sorry" statements. Mr. Obama has tacitly aligned himself with Mr. Jones simply by not denouncing him at every turn. It's a shame.
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