Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 1763 } Location: Hudson Valley, NY
Posted: Fri 04 Sep 2009 14:08 Post subject: Obama "czar" Van Jones and other Obama radicals
Quote:
Controversial Obama Administration Official Denies Being Part of 9/11 "Truther" Movement, Apologizes for Past Comments
September 03, 2009 9:19 PM
A top environmental official of the Obama administration issued a statement Thursday apologizing for past incendiary statement and denying that he ever agreed with a 2004 petition on which his name appears, a petition calling for congressional hearings and an investigation by the New York Attorney General into "evidence that suggests high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur."
Van Jones, the Special Advisor for Green Jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is Number 46 of the petitioners from the so-called "Truther" movement which suggests that people in the administration of President George W. Bush "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war."
In a statement issued Thursday evening Jones said of "the petition that was circulated today, I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever."
He did not explain how his name came to be on the petition. An administration source said Jones says he did not carefully review the language in the petition before agreeing to add his name.
"My work at the Council on Environmental Quality is entirely focused on one goal: building clean energy incentives which create 21st century jobs that improve energy efficiency and use renewable resources," Jones said in his statement tonight.
Jones also said in his statement that "In recent days some in the news media have reported on past statements I made before I joined the administration – some of which were made years ago. If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize."
With a history of incendiary and provocative remarks, many of them dealing with his view of how whites exploit minorities, Jones has emerged as the subject of much conservative scrutiny in recent days, particularly from Fox News' Glenn Beck. (Jones defenders point out that most of Beck's criticism came after a group Jones helped found, Color of Change, began pushing advertisers to boycott Beck after he accused President Obama of being a racist.)
Jones is the best-selling author of The Green Collar Economy and a leader in the "green jobs" movement -- the idea that clean energy jobs can create jobs, especially in poor communities. He has been praised from leaders ranging from Al Gore to former eBay CEO (and Republican) Meg Whitman, who in May said that Jones is doing "a marvelous job… I’m a huge fan of his. He is very bright, very articulate, very passionate. I think he is exactly right.”
Earlier this year a profile of Jones in the New Yorker, author Elizabeth Kolbert wrote that "the basic premise of Jones’s appeal—that combating global warming is a good way to lift people out of poverty—is very much open to debate. ... it’s not at all clear that the number of jobs created by, say, an expanding solar industry would be greater than the number lost through, say, a shrinking coal-mining industry. Nor is it clear that a green economy would be any better at providing work for the chronically unemployed than our present, 'gray' economy has been."
But those theories aren't the ones that have made Jones a lightning rod in the past few weeks.
In 2005 Jones told the East Bay Express that the acquittal of Rodney King's assailants in 1992 in that infamous police brutality case changed him significantly. "I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th," he said. "By August, I was a communist."
Jones and other young activists in 1994 formed a group called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM, rooted in Marxism and Leninsm. Two years later, Jones launched the Ella Baker Center, an Oakland, Calif., based "strategy and action center" which states that it tries to "promote positive alternatives to violence and incarceration."
In February during a discussion on energy at Berkeley, Calif., (and prior to his joining the Obama administration) Jones referred to Republicans using an epithet for a proctological orifice, which he called "a technical, political science term."
Asked why Republicans asserted more control of the Senate when they had a smaller majority before 2006, Jones said "the answer to that is, they're a--holes." He added that President Obama is not an a--hole, but, "I will say this. I can be an a--hole, and some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama are going to have to start getting a little bit uppity."
"I apologize for the offensive words I chose to use during that speech," Jones said in a different written statement to Politico on Wednesday. "They do not reflect the views of this administration, which has made every effort to work in a bipartisan fashion, and they do not reflect the experience I have had since I joined the administration."
As is Bill Ayeres and Wright, this man is a true reflection of who Barack Obama is. A man many people did not know was elected.
What the hell are "green jobs" anyway. Will they pay as well as traditional manufacturing/engineering??? The Chinese will have JOBS, and we will have "green jobs". What a joke this is.
Quote:
"I apologize for the offensive words I chose to use during that speech," Jones said in a different written statement to Politico on Wednesday. "They do not reflect the views of this administration, which has made every effort to work in a bipartisan fashion, and they do not reflect the experience I have had since I joined the administration."
What a LIE!!! He's sorry this surfaced and he's trying to save his arse.
Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 1763 } Location: Hudson Valley, NY
Posted: Fri 04 Sep 2009 14:16 Post subject:
Quote:
Obama "green jobs czar" signed "Truther" statement in 2004
President Obama’s “green jobs czar” Van Jones has been targeted again and again by conservatives for his controversial views and now they’ll have another item to use as fodder.
Mr. Jones signed a statement for 911Truth.org in 2004 demanding an investigation into what the Bush Administration may have done that “deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war.”
His name is listed with 99 other prominent signatories supporting such an investigation on the 911Truth.org website, including Code Pink co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodi Evans, comedienne Janeane Garofalo, Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and others. He's identified as the executive director for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights on the statement, which he founded before going to the White House. The statement is available here. Mr. Jones is number 46.
Mike Berger, a spokesman for 911Truth.org, told the Washington Times over the phone that all of the signers had been verified by their group. He said 9/11Truth.org board members “spoke with each person on the list by phone or through email to individually confirm they had added their name to that list.”
Of all the people, including some conservatives, who think the "birthers" are kooks, I ask, who is more kookier: someone asking to see a birth ceritificate of a person to prove their eligibility to hold a position, or people who think 9/11 was an "inside job"?? And this man advises the President who is the Commander in Chief of all the Armed Forces and has access to nuclear weapons.
Shows Obama's judgement or lack thereof. What's the old saying....birds of a feather, flock together.
It is said, we get the government we deserve. I can tell you right now that many people are full of remorse about Obama just like I predicted. Does he have time to turn it around??? He certainly does, but he will alienate many in his left wing base. So they have come to the proverbial fork in the road. Which fork do they then take???
Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 1763 } Location: Hudson Valley, NY
Posted: Fri 04 Sep 2009 18:37 Post subject:
Quote:
White House stands by 'truther' Van Jones
By Sam Youngman - 09/04/09 12:40 PM ET
The White House would not say whether the White House's green-jobs czar, who has been linked to Sept. 11 conspiracy theorists, continues to enjoy the confidence of the president, but an official said he is still a part of the administration.
Van Jones, the president's special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), has come under fire this week for using an obscenity to describe Republicans and for signing a petition to get Congress to investigate whether the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were an inside government job.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs would only say Friday that Jones, no stranger to controversial or offensive statements, is still a part of the administration. He declined to say if Jones still has the confidence of the president.
In a meeting with reporters in his West Wing office, Gibbs referred numerous questions about Jones to the CEQ and a statement Jones released Thursday saying he did not agree with the petition signed by so-called "truthers."
Gibbs did say the president disagrees with those statements as well.
Well at least Obama is not throwing him under the bus....yet!!!
Yeah,Van Jones needs to go. Obama needs to realize it is him or Jones.
Obama can be a one-term president in a lame duck kind of poistion or get real or take a page from Clinton and Regan. Stop. Revamp. Reinvent.
Both of these presidents let some appointees go because of new relevations which was not enough vetting or controversy.
I really want Obama to succeed.
I feel that ,you DC,don't want him.
I really want him to and being Black American is the least reason why.
Our country is in a bad situation and has been for the past 8 years and it is not getting better.
I was no a fan of Bush, but I believe in the U.S.A. and wanted things going right during his term too.
One country. One people.
If it fails,we all fail.
Many of these town hall and tea party people don't realize that. Then GOP is not for you nor are the Democrats.
Why not put that good presure on ALL of our ELECTED govt. officials
I think it is good people are rallying up,but they are rallying up only against one man,one political party.
I'll post on another thread about what I think about Obama.
Last edited by Creole GAL on Sun 06 Sep 2009 13:55; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 1763 } Location: Hudson Valley, NY
Posted: Fri 04 Sep 2009 20:19 Post subject:
Creole GAL wrote:
Yeah,Van Jones needs to go. Obama needs to realize it is him or Jones.
Obama can be a one-term president in a lame duck kind of poistion or get real or take a page from Clinton and Regan. Stop. Revamp. Reinvent.
Both of these presidents let some appointees go because of new relevations which was not enough vetting or controversy.
I really want Obama to succeed.
I feel that ,you DC,don't want him.
I really want him to and being Black American is the least reason why.
Our country is in a bad situation and has been for the past 8 years and it is not geting better.
I was no a fan of Bush, but I believe in the U.S.A. and wanted things going right during his term too.
One country. One people.
If it fails,we all fail.
Many of these town hall and tea party people don't realize that. Then GOP is not for you nor are the Democrats.
Why not put that good presure on ALL of our ELECTED govt. officials
I think it is good people are rallying up,but they are rallying up only against one man,one political party.
I'll post on another thread about what I think about Obama.
Actually Creole GAL, many of the town hall people are upset at both parties, but it's that currently. they are more upset at the Democrats because they have been insulted by the Democrats and they feel the Democrats are not listening to them.
I feel the election of Obama was a tremendous mistake. The one positive thing that is coming about is that it is waking up many people. It's not just him they are upset with, it's Pelosi and Reid, particularly Pelosi. I think the people realize we need a balance in government and that right now, we do not have that. So the people feel that the government is not acting in accordance to the Constitution. They are acting as if they will push their agenda on them wether they like it or not. This is what caused the War for Independence, this exact method from the government we are seeing today. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the DNC have made a serious miscalculation on what the people will take. If they keep pushing, it will get worse.
I guess we'll have to see how Obama's talk in front of Congress goes Tuesday.
Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 1763 } Location: Hudson Valley, NY
Posted: Sat 05 Sep 2009 04:16 Post subject:
Quote:
JERUSALEM – Van Jones, President Obama's controversial environmental adviser, signed a petition calling for nationwide "resistance" against police, accusing them of using the 9/11 attacks to carry out policies of torture.
The petition was organized by the October 22nd Coalition, an anti-police organization whose mission statement was drawn up by leaders of the radical Black Panther Collective for Social Progress.
The movement organizes yearly national anti-police demonstrations, accusing police of "brutality, detentions, domestic spying, profiling and other attacks on human and civil liberties." The protests are held under the banner of the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation."
The 2006 statement, available on the website for the Revolutionary Communist Party USA, calls on participants to "resist so that we will not be crushed. Our resistance gives other people courage."
The statement accused the police of deliberately murdering civilians in cases that later were mostly ruled accidents.
The statement read: "Two police officers in San Francisco, CA shot and killed a man they found in an apartment that they believed was vacant. Police claimed that 25-year-old Asa Sullivan had a gun, but in reality, he was only carrying an eyeglass case. In Baltimore, MD a 15-year-old, was shot at by police when they assumed the cell phone he was reaching for was a gun. 49-year-old Cindy Conolly was in Oxnard, CA to attend her son’s wedding, but was killed instantly while sunbathing on the beach when two police patrolling the beach drove their vehicle over her.
"At airports, subways, transportation centers, and more we are asked to 'welcome' bag searches, check points, invasion of privacy, stripping away of civil liberties, all in the name of 'national security," the statement read.
Jones signed the petition as director of the radical, socialist-inspired Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.
The White House did not return multiple WND requests the past few weeks seeking comment on how Jones was screened for his position and whether the White House knew of his admitted radical past.
Jones also a founder of the Bay Area Cop Watch, which has been accused of anti-police activities.
Signing alongside Jones was the radical attorney Lynne Stewart, who was convicted of illegally passing messages on behalf of her incarcerated client Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman – the terrorist mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
This is not the first time Jones was involved in movements calling for "resistance" against U.S. institutions.
WND reported earlier this week Jones was the main speaker at an anti-war rally that urged "resistance" against the U.S. government.
The rally was sponsored by an organization associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party, which calls for the overthrow of the U.S. government and its replacement with a communist dictatorship.
WND previously reported Jones, special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is an admitted black nationalist and radical communist.
Last edited by DChapman on Sat 05 Sep 2009 04:36; edited 1 time in total
In reality, relative to the African-American proportion of the population, African Americans are overrepresented in the ranks of serial killers by a factor of two. In other words, a random African American is twice as likely to be a serial killer than a random non-African-American. See African Americans and Serial Killing in the Media. This is roughly the same imbalance as for all other violent crime.
Of all the people, including some conservatives, who think the "birthers" are kooks, I ask, who is more kookier: someone asking to see a birth ceritificate of a person to prove their eligibility to hold a position, or people who think 9/11 was an "inside job"??
Hmmm...people who believe a multi-level government conspiracy is responsible for installing an illegitimate Kenyan as President of the United States, or people who belive a multi-level government conspiracy is responsible for killing Americans and framing Al Qaeda.
Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 1763 } Location: Hudson Valley, NY
Posted: Mon 07 Sep 2009 15:42 Post subject:
balthan wrote:
Hmmm...people who believe a multi-level government conspiracy is responsible for installing an illegitimate Kenyan as President of the United States, or people who belive a multi-level government conspiracy is responsible for killing Americans and framing Al Qaeda.
They seems about equal on my kookiness scale.
Many who insist on Obama showing the birth certificate do not say he was born in Kenya. Many agree he could have been born where he said. They/we just want him to prove it defintively. He will not do this. So, I think the kookiness scale is tipped infintely in the favour of the 911 conspiracists. JMO.
Former Obama green jobs czar Van Jones is gone, along with his views about whites directing poisons to minorities, his obscene condemnations of Republicans and his affiliation with the idea the U.S. government was behind 9/11.
Now critics of the cadre of unvetted political appointees charged by the president with "advising" on a broad range of critical issues are looking at some of the other names with White House access.
Jones' midnight-on-a-holiday-weekend resignation came after pressure over his extremist history first exposed in WND reached critical mass, set off by a tape of him in an expletive-packed rant, directly attacking Republicans in the Senate who he said abused their majority position in the past to push legislation through.
Now czar regime opponents are looking into names such as John Holdren, Cass Sunstein and Mark Lloyd.
Holdren, the science czar, for example, has been described as a population control "zealot" who has stated his belief the Constitution justifies compulsory abortions. His 1977 book with Paul Ehrlich called "Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment," states: "There exists ample authority under which population growth could be regulated. It has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society."
The authors created a "Planetary Regime" whose police forces would be able to "enforce" population limits around the globe.
Then there's Cass Sunstein, the Harvard Law professor named the regulator czar.
He's also been on the population control bandwagon, advocated animal rights and followed the teachings of Peter Singer devoutly. Singer has argued that abortion should be allowed because killing unborn babies isn't like homicide.
"Killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person, that is, a being who wants to go on living."
He also discussed outlawing sport hunting and giving animals the legal right to file lawsuits.
"Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian-like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients' behalf," he suggested.
Then there's Mark Lloyd, the "diversity czar" who has talked about issues such as a 100 percent tax on broadcast outlets in order to collect money to provide alternative viewpoints, mandatory diversity in station ownership and the idea of requiring broadcast businesses to cater to the demands of local activism committees.
Republican Congressman Mike Pence said all such appointees should be reviewed by Congress like those who take various cabinet positions and must be approved by elected legislators.
According to a Fox report, Pence said the czars should be subject to background checks and a vote.
"I’m suggesting that the administration should suspend immediately any future czar appointments while both the constitutionality of this practice is examined and while the background and qualifications of individuals who’ve been appointed as czars is carefully examined," Pence over the weekend.
While Code Pink activist Medea Benjamin was describing the treatment of Jones as being "swift-boated," Obama was pushing ahead with the appointment today of Ron Bloom as manufacturing czar, bringing to nearly three dozen the political appointees who wield huge influence but effectively answer only to the president.
A blogger at RedState.com, however, addressed the idea that perhaps there was no breakdown in the vetting process for the candidates with radical ideas out of alignment with mainstream America.
Perhaps, the commentator suggested, the individuals were chosen because of those ideas.
"Over at The Corner at NRO, Andy McCarthy has a different take – one that I believe is quite accurate. McCarthy asserts that Jones was chosen precisely because of his controversial background," said RedState.com
The blog quoted McCarthey's statements: "The point, of course, is that Obama vetted Jones just fine. President Obama is not Mr. Magoo – haplessly gravitating to Truther Van and Ayers and Dohrn and Klonsky and Davis and Wright and the Chicago New Party and ACORN, etc. Jones is a kindred spirit. Obama knows exactly who he is. Jones was given a non-confirmation job precisely because that circumvented the vetting process. This isn't one of those things that just happen.
"The two have the same kinds of backgrounds. They were both community organizers of some ilk. It only makes sense that Obama would seek someone with the same background to pursue one of his pet policies – 'green jobs,'" he continued.
The RedState blog pointed out that someone – probably someone very high up – had to approve Jones personally – or he never would have been given access to the White House.
"As former Reagan staffer Jeffrey Lord explains at the Spectator, the Secret Service carefully scrutinizes the background of everyone who works at the White House. With his background, Van Jones couldn't possibly have gotten into the White House, much less had physical access to the president, unless the top echelon of the administration (I'd wager, the very top) overrode any objections," the blogger said.
"The … likelihood is that the Obama staff simply told them to give him a pass."
"Conservatives are no doubt emboldened to go after more of Obama's czars," the analysis continued, "with the expectation that they, too, are 'under-vetted.' Indeed, there are several who appear to have questionable backgrounds – from our perspective. But do they from Obama's perspective?
"This was not a mistake by Obama," he continued. "The appointments of Jones, Mark Lloyd, and other 'Czars of the Obama Underworld' were quite intentional. … He is a socialist ideologue who has a mission to transform America into a weath-redistributing, big-government nanny state – and has built the team (without oversight that would expose their backgrounds and ideology) that he believes can help him accomplish that objective."
One of the participants in the RedState forum page expressed the idea of Obama throwing liberals at a wall to see if they stick.
"If they stick (read: stay) they are free w/o congressional approval/oversight to do the radical agenda bidding."
At Politico.com, there was agreement with the assessment.
"With the resignation of green jobs adviser Van Jones, the conservative firing squad is setting its sights on other White House czars," wrote Lisa Lerer. "The resignation of Jones – who stepped down from his post as the White House green jobs adviser early Sunday morning, citing a 'vicious smear campaign' waged against him by 'opponents of reform' – was a win for conservative politicians and pundits who waged a months-long campaign hammering him for comments he made in his previous post as an environmental activist for poor and minority communities."
Lerer specifically cited Holdren for his "involuntary fertility control methods like mandatory abortions, mandating family size and adding sterilants to drinking water…"
Also identified was Sunstein, who "supported taking people's organs 'against their will.'"
Lloyd was mentioned again, too.
It was in April when Aaron Klein, Jerusalem bureau chief for WND.com, broke the first major story on Jones who was identified as a self-described radical communist and "rowdy black nationalist" who said his environmental activism was actually a means to fight for racial and class "justice."
Succeeding revelations by WND included:
Jones previously served on the board of an environmental activist group at which a founder of the Weather Underground terrorist organization is a top director.
Jones was co-founder of a black activist organization that has led a campaign prompting major advertisers to withdraw from Glenn Beck's top-rated Fox News Channel program. The revelation followed Beck's reports on WND's story about Jones' communist background.
That Jones and other White House appointees may have been screened by an ACORN associate.
One day after the 9/11 attacks, Jones led a vigil that expressed solidarity with Arab and Muslim Americans as well as what he called the victims of "U.S. imperialism" around the world.
Just days before his White House appointment, Jones used a forum at a major youth convention to push for a radical agenda that included spreading the wealth and "changing the whole system."
Jones' Maoist manifesto while leading the group Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM, was scrubbed from the Internet after being revealed by WND.
Jones was the main speaker at an anti-war rally that urged "resistance" against the U.S. government – a demonstration sponsored by an organization associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party.
In a 2005 conference, Jones characterized the U.S. as an "apartheid regime" that civil rights workers helped turn into a "struggling, fledgling democracy."
Jones signed a petition calling for nationwide "resistance" against police, accusing them of using the 9/11 attacks to carry out policies of torture.
While talk radio and cable television picked up WND's reporting and increased the pressure on the administration to cut Jones loose, there was no significant press coverage of the scandal by the major U.S. news media until late last week.
Lawyer and conservative political analyst Phyllis Schlafly notes there are other possible questions to be raised for members of the czar corps.
"So far, Obama has appointed 34 czars. Just listing them is enough to scare anyone who believes in constitutional and representative government: Afghanistan czar, AIDS czar, border czar, car czar, climate czar, copyright czar, cyberspace czar, drug czar, economic czar, education czar, energy czar, executive pay czar, faith-based czar, Great Lakes czar, green jobs czar, Guantanamo closure czar, health reform czar, infotech czar, intelligence czar, Iran czar, Middle East peace czar, non-proliferation czar, Persian Gulf/Southeast Asia czar, regulatory czar, science czar, stimulus accountability czar, Sudan czar, TARP czar, terrorism czar, urban czar, war czar, and WMD and terrorism czar," she wrote.
"At least one Obama pal is functioning in a similar capacity without the awesome Russian title of czar. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who publicly withdrew from his appointment as secretary of health and human services because of non-payment of income taxes, is providing 'outside advice' to the president inside the Oval Office and to top White House officials, while continuing as a highly paid policy adviser to hospital and pharmaceutical clients of a law and lobbying firm," she said.
Quote:
Holdren, the science czar, for example, has been described as a population control "zealot" who has stated his belief the Constitution justifies compulsory abortions. His 1977 book with Paul Ehrlich called "Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment," states: "There exists ample authority under which population growth could be regulated. It has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society."
Hmmm...people who believe a multi-level government conspiracy is responsible for installing an illegitimate Kenyan as President of the United States, or people who belive a multi-level government conspiracy is responsible for killing Americans and framing Al Qaeda.
Joined: 07 Feb 2007 {Posts: 1829 } Location: Lookin DC Metro, Feelin Geneva
Posted: Wed 09 Sep 2009 17:53 Post subject:
Quote:
"[Van] Jones was wrong, actually, in disavowing his support for 9/11 conspiracy theory. He signed the document, which can only mean that he supports the idea that 9/11 was planned, or that the Bushies knew something more than they have said, or at least that the charge is plausible enough to require investigation. But support for that idea is hardly unknown among people of the left – and often gestural in its own way; look one of these types in the eye and ask 'Do you really think George Bush and his cabinet engineered the murder of thousands and have kept the secret for eight years?' and watch the nervous pause and the look off into the distance. Speculations in this vein hardly meant that Jones was not sincerely committed to working within the government to do good. As for Jones calling Republicans idiots, the way things are lately plenty of Republicans are doing that too, and quite a few of them are hardly above making the charge of Democrats. And Jones’ flirtation with Communism was brief and partly rhetorical. There are genuinely committed Communists, but Jones’ life story gives no indication of his being one. I knew quite a few 'Communists' in college who are now mowing their lawns and working as management consultants. All of which is to say that what Glenn Beck was calling Jones out for were things inconsequential, having nothing to with his competent execution of his job. Jones’ job wasn’t even a position of any particular power. Therefore – even if Glenn Beck and assorted websites had been screaming about this low-level Administration functionary nightly for the next six months, how would it have mattered in any significant way? Sure there is a health care bill that needs to be worked out – but which Congressmen’s votes would have been affected by what right-wing radio hosts were saying about the Czar of Green Jobs? As to voters, how many would stop supporting Obama because of a paranoid characterization of Van Jones? Pragmatics matter, of course – but at what point does this Administration let principle win out regardless?....The Obama Administration should have acted like the victors they are and made sure Van Jones stayed just where he was. I understand that Obama can’t rule as the outright lefty many of his fans would prefer. But Jones’ presence was a laudable representation of progressivism in the Administration – and a quiet one. Some would even suggest that it was largely symbolic. If the Obama folks are going to throw even people like this off the train just because some silly people make some silly noises, then the bloom really is off the rose. Sometimes, after all, the best thing is to just let the baby scream." — John McWhorter, moderate-liberal Democratic commenter
Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 1763 } Location: Hudson Valley, NY
Posted: Wed 09 Sep 2009 19:10 Post subject:
John McWhorter wrote:
As to voters, how many would stop supporting Obama because of a paranoid characterization of Van Jones? Pragmatics matter, of course – but at what point does this Administration let principle win out regardless?....The Obama Administration should have acted like the victors they are and made sure Van Jones stayed just where he was.
Yes, I agree, he should not have budged here.
John McWhorter wrote:
I understand that Obama can’t rule as the outright lefty many of his fans would prefer.
"Rule"????? I assume this was a slip of the tongue here. I think he meant "govern"....
John McWhorter wrote:
But Jones’ presence was a laudable representation of progressivism in the Administration – and a quiet one. Some would even suggest that it was largely symbolic. If the Obama folks are going to throw even people like this off the train just because some silly people make some silly noises, then the bloom really is off the rose. Sometimes, after all, the best thing is to just let the baby scream."
Me thinks the noises were not silly noises from silly people. 5 months ago all these things about Jones would have been deemed "stuff" by "right wing extremists", but they all turned out to be true. I don't think "mainstream" White Americans want an American hating radical as an advisor to their President. He could have well kept him on, and it would have further alienated not folks on the right, but folks in the "center" and independents. It was up to Obama which fork in the road he was going to take here. He has a tough journey ahead.
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