Spare me a repeat performance of the Jeremiah Wright farce, only with Van Jones, the Special Advisor for Green Jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, substituting for the Obamas’ preacher; and surfacing in YouTube clips while delivering Wright-like jeremiads lambasting white men and Western civilization, as every liberal lunatic and wimpish WASP pretends Obamby hardly knew the jejune Jones.
Can we skip this? Can this country’s anointed cognoscenti at least pretend to be familiar with the concept of a learning curve?
To quote ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper:
Van Jones,
“[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.”
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. A source said Jones did not carefully review the language in the petition before agreeing to add his name.
It’s one thing to have voted for Obama; it’s quite another to walk around in a daze pretending the man has no relationship to the entourage of crazies that has been catapulted to power with him.
Incidentally, I am less perturbed by Jones’ affinity with 9/11 conspirators than with the vertiginous ignorance of economics that accompanies his green faith. The man’s mandate is to do serious damage.
Just as Obama intended.
Here’s a prophetic prediction (NOT): There are many Van Jones’ in the Obama administration. You’ll meet them in the fullness of time. Quit feigning surprise when they crawl out from their dank corners.
Update I (Sept.4): I TOLD YOU SO. The predictable LiveLeak and YouTube clips are surfacing showcasing this apparent anomaly in the Obama administration: a black man who is every bit as cynical and smug as Jeremiah Wright, and like him is consumed by savage rage and envy. But like Obama’s confidant and reverend of 20 years, Van Jones is somehow treated atomistically. Conservatives too are positing only whether he has a future; will he be fired, and what kind of vetting did he undergo. It is manifestly obvious to these pundits that Obama could not possibly have approved of such a man.
Once again, “The Real Slim Shady” slithers away successfully.
Update II: THE REAL STORY is this, courtesy of Byron York:
Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the New York Times: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the Washington Post: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on NBC Nightly News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on ABC World News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on CBS Evening News: 0.
Update III (Sept. 6): JONES FALLS ON HIS SWORD so that Obamby may retain his porcelainized image. My Way News:
“President Barack Obama’s adviser Van Jones has resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements, the White House said early Sunday.
Jones, an administration official specializing in environmentally friendly “green jobs” with the White House Council on Environmental Quality was linked to efforts suggesting a government role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.”