Van Jones Goes Down In Flames - Resigns Position With Obama Administration
Van Jones didn't understand basic politics, the higher your profile, the more people dig into your past and he had some basically harmless, but politically dynamite skeletons in his closet. The hard part is that the Glenn Beck assholes of this world will be crowing big time about their part in Jones' demise. Van Jones will be just fine, he doesn't need a government job to be effective. I'm hoping that he will now ramp up the heat even further on Glenn Beck and his minions.
5 comments:
YES WELL SAID AUNTIE! LETS HOPE HE TAKES THIS FIRE AND DIRECTS IT IN ANOTHER DIRECTION!
I think this is a mistake. Not a week goes by without some Republican somewhere getting caught passing on a racist joke/email. You have Republicans talking smack about Obama's children, his wife and his MOTHER. Republican elected officials have not moved to permanently disassociate themselves from the birther movement or claims that Obama wants a terrorist attack or is a secret socialist or so on.
There is nothing that Van Jones wrote or said that would/should have been unknown to the Obama Administration. They should have already known everything he said and wrote via the vetting process.
So throwing him overboard will only embolden the Administration enemies and demoralize the supporters. Even if Van Jones was crazy and out of line (and I don't think he was), he should only have been sacrificed if an equivalent pound of flesh was extracted from the Republican side somewhere.
Giving him up is the political equivalent of Don Corleone getting rid of one of his soldiers because the fellow said something nasty about Don Barzini. It will not stop further attacks. It will only demoralize supporters because they see that their leader does not back them down the line.
It's a bad move and will only (and rightfully) be seen as weakness by the opposition. Sharks DON'T go away when they smell blood in the water. And make no mistake the Republicans are sharks. There are many things I despise about Republicans but their instinct to go after weakness is not one of them. Beck will never apologize for what he said about the President and after this, why should he?
The opposition is pretty weak and wimpy in their criticisms. Whether behind the scenes or not, folks are just going to have to stand their ground and watch the naysayers fold like paper.
@Shady_Grady:
Thank you!! You said it so well! The other party basically has card carrying klan members in their ranks, but you don't see them apologizing or backing down.
Just shaking my head in disappointment...umph umph umph! I just read about his 'green' special adviser, van jones, resigning. what is it with this administration not standing up for it's choices???
obama is just making himself look weaker and weaker..too many people have quit/resigned, etc just because the stupid repugnicans/conservatives put up a big fuss. when is obama going to stand behind his choices??? this is ridiculous and very sad. I hate to say it, but this is just more proof that obama, while i'm sure proudly black, is definitely not of ethnic "black american" descent (meaning the long term African Americans descended from those who were enslaved) - the adam clayton powells, rosa parks, thurgood marshall's, shirley chisolms, dr. kings, jackie robinson's and malcolm x's took all types of abuse and proved that they'd rather risk death than back down on their principles just because some racists haters said "boo, we disagree"! i mean, this is getting ridiculous! just sad and pathetic.
I truly think a president who was 'ethnic' African American would fight long and hard and not cave in so easily because he/she would understand the racial element to most of these arguments.
I am starting to be so over the Obama admin - i know, i know, that's just what the repugnicans would want, but what else can i be like when i see obama's people dropping like flies for the littlest, most non-sensical reasons??
@Lena -- Lena wrote, "I truly think a president who was 'ethnic' African American would fight long and hard and not cave in so easily because he/she would understand the racial element to most of these arguments."
Obama's racial identity -- and the extreme hostility/open rage and anxieties white people express in response to a black man occupying the most (formally) powerful office in the world -- is precisely why Van Jones has been forced/asked to resign.
I'm not saying the decision to force/ask Van Jones to resign was right -- I think the reasons he has been asked to resign are silly (A black official in a president's administration can't have political opinions that are largely unsupported by white people? Such a person can't participate in anti-racist movements? Because of the potency of white supremacy, I believe a white man who had said/done the same things Van Jones is being ousted for -- would have been forced out of his post too. What's the name of that white man Obama was heavily criticized -- and called racist against white folk -- for having a friendship with during his campaign for president? )
Because of the prevalence and power of white supremacy -- in the minds of white folks, in the minds of some people of color, and in the skeleton of the U.S.'s social, economic and political institutions -- Obama and his administration is forced to distance himself from any person and organization that can be (mis)construed as racist against white people.
Obama is under a very large white microscope. White Republicans are playing their own "race card" over and over and over again in an effort to feed the fire of white racial resentment that fuels opposition to Obama and his policies.
No, I don't think Van Jones should be made to go. But I understand why he is going. White racism. And the way in which white racism influences Obama as president and his ability to lead/govern as president.
Obama is trying to get so many good things done -- like health care reform. He appointed the first woman of color to the Supreme Court -- she will help make policies as a Supreme Court justice that will positively impact the lives of poor people of all races, people of color, and lgbtq people (at least, that is my hope). At this point, Van Jones' his presence in Obama's administration -- because of white supremacy/white racism and white Republicans unabashed use and exploitation of the white voting public's racism -- is a virus that if left in place could potentially kill his ability to get good work done.
As a person of color, as a black man, who is also the U.S.'s first black president -- Obama has a lot more people to please. He's got the hopes, needs, and concerns of millions of people of color, most especially black people, weighing on him -- motivating him -- in a way no white male president has ever had to deal with -- no white male president could possibly feel towards people of color what Obama does. Because of racism, people of colors' opportunities, and far too often -- their very aspirations -- have been limited or entirely eliminated. But now "we" got one in the White House! We want so much for him to succeed; it's also so easy for him to fail us, I think -- because our expectations of him are so much higher than they are/would be/have been for white male presidents.
Because of white racism, Obama is under the scrutiny of white people in and outside the U.S. with an intensity no white male president has ever had to deal with/experience. They are 100s of 1000s of white people who want him to fail so badly, who see no good in any word he speaks or any project he undertakes -- who cannot stand the sight of him standing before the world speaking as the U.S.A.'s president. There are many people that wish him dead.
I'm just sayin -- he's got a lot to deal with, a lot of folk to please, and whole lotta invisible mines he's trying not to step on.
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