The Obama Administration attempted to bury the news of appears to have been the forced resignation of Green Czar Van Jones by announcing it after midnight on Sunday during Labor Day weekend. Not surprising, the Right sees Jones’ ouster as a major victory. Liberals see it as a betrayal.
Jones, near the bottom of the totem pole, received an unusual amount of political heat for a man in his station. Thanks to Glenn Beck and his friends at Fox, comments Jones made nearly a decade ago became fuel for what many now see as the ‘dawn of the new McCarthyism,’ where being a racist and a fascist is fine, but supporting a single payer plan and other ‘socialist’ sounding ideas, or even questioning former President Bush’s involvement in 9/11, amounts to treason as well as political and career suicide.
It is shocking that in 2009, in an age where America enjoys communal services such as Medicare, police and fire protection, water, gas, and electric access, etc, and encourages communal activities such as belonging to the NRA, a fraternity, a union, or even a corporation, the words “communist” or “socialist” or “Marxist” have any real meaning at all. It is shocking, even if it were true that Jones still considered himself a Marxist or communist or socialist, that his beliefs would somehow be legitimate grounds for socio-political ridicule, abuse, job termination or other rabid mob action. It is appalling, and frankly telling, that no one in the Obama Administration had the cojones to stand up to an entertainer or Fox, or defend the President’s appointee in the face of opposition. It makes one think twice about working for or supporting such an administration.
Jones’s ouster is a wake up call for Liberals and Progressive, who should see the Obama Administration’s capitulation on gay marriage, a public option in health care reform, and now Van Jones, as a sign that the Administration does not represent the majority of the people who elected Obama, but rather the interests of a handful of corporations. It is unclear whether getting a fresh set of advisers more in touch with voters would make any difference in White House Policy.
After calling President Obama a racist who hates White people, Beck’s later targeting Van Jones was hardly a shocker. But what is astonishing is that Beck still has a job. He, like Charles Manson, has combined entertainment with a message of hate to inspire people to instigate a total race war. Whether Beck’s desired political junta will be fully realized remains to be seen, but appears more possible than it did a few days ago.