Some Personal Thoughts About Van Jones Being Driven to Resign

An old college friend recently asked me what my connection was to Van Jones, since I work at the Center for American Progress and he was a Fellow here prior to taking his post at the White House. I told him that, while we had not interacted at work, I had contacted Jones many years ago when I was an Internet advocacy consultant looking to do some work for the Ella Baker Center. While that project never materialized, I kept up with his work there as I continued to talk with his communications staff about possible projects.

I also mentioned my distaste for the hatchet job Glenn Beck and others had done on him to drive him to resignation.

My old friend’s response was quite revealing about just how effective the hatchet job on Jones was. He replied that he thought I had gone “stark raving mad” and that “There was no ‘hatchet job.’” He went on to call him a “complete loon,” a “truther,” and that his own words describing himself as a communist and leader of STORM were “downright scary.” He then wrote that the president was an “idiot” for not knowing this stuff (or worse, if he did know it) and still choosing Jones to be “in charge of billions of fed dollars for ‘green jobs’” and that it was no wonder his approval rating was 45 percent.

He then wished me well, calling me his “communist-sympathizing amigo.”

Good friend, but sadly misguided.

Here is my response to my old friend:

Let's be clear, do not construe anything I say to mean I am anything but a mainstream American. Like the majority of the people in this country, I favor the free market except in areas where it does not work, namely the production of public goods (clean air, clean water, national defense, contract enforcement, law enforcement, and public health, to name the big ones). In those cases, I believe government is the only actor that has the capacity to produce public goods at sufficient levels.

What I am describing is consistent with Adam Smith's work, as well as Keynes and the vast majority of economists.

That Van Jones was a communist by his own admission may be true, but to say that makes him a loon or unfit for public service is as ridiculous as saying a pure free marketer is a loon or unfit for public service. In both cases, the evidence to support their positions ain't there. In both cases, they defend a system that has never existed in the modern developed world. There are, and have been, no pure communist, nor pure free market countries. Even in the heyday of the American industrial revolution, monopolies and oligopolies ruled the market (until government regulation created a mixed market economy). And in the Soviet Union and China, what was implemented was far closer to state capitalism and fascism than it was to Marxism or communism.

So let's get that out of the way.

Am I stark raving mad? Not even close. Don't forget, I have made detailed studies of politics and policy since our school days. I have a Ph.D. in political science and I have been a professor and policy professional for 20 years. I am steeped in research and make my conclusions based on research.

I also believe in the Constitution, all of it, especially the rights of all Americans to have and express diverse opinions.

I also believe in the free market of ideas. This means I believe that a government assembled only of like thinking people is doomed to make mistakes due to closed mindedness. I would much rather see policy advisors drawn from across the spectrum than from the same team. The results will be better.

As for the hatchet job, it is well documented that Beck, Hannity and crew are out to take down Obama any way they can, in part by railing on his “czars.” Sean Hannity explained, "We got rid of one [czar], and my job...is to get rid of every other one. I promise you that." Neil Cavuto claimed last June that Obama's czars should actually be called "evil despots accountable to no one." Glenn Beck, referred to Obama's appointment of special advisers as a "power grab."

I find the “power grab” argument particularly hypocritical because 1) Bush/Cheney bragged about doing many worse things to grab power for executive than appointing czars, 2) Bush had at least a dozen "czars," himself, 3) some of the people Beck is calling czars, like Cass Sunstein, are unaccountable, as they are going through Senate confirmation process as part of their appointment, 4) even Karl Rove was Bush's domestic policy czar by Bush's own words, 5) the president has always had a full set of policy advisor within the White House and separate from the Cabinet departments and agencies, even if they are not called “czars” (that is why we have the West Wing and two Executive office buildings, built long before Obama was sworn in), and 6) even Republicans in Congress complaining about the czars, like Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana), actually voted to create some of them when Bush was president (for example the Intelligence Czar/Director of National Intelligence).

So, regardless of whether you can find particular justification for the attacks on Van Jones, those attacks were clearly and deliberately part of a hatchet job to undermine the president. Further, don't you find it ironic that the people who are orchestrating this campaign against the president are the same guys that called those of us who criticized Bush unpatriotic and worse just a few years ago?

As for your comments about Truthers, I am not one. I do not believe the president knew about or orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. But I do know that Bush had close personal relations with the Saudi royal family and that Bush, Cheney, and many of their principle supporters and advisors are from the oil industry and have close relationships with Arab oil magnates, including the bin Laden family. Given all we do know, it is fair to ask if Bush might have underestimated the importance of signs that should have warned him of the threat. Further, I am sure you know that in the 48 hours after 9/11 when all fights over the US were grounded, the Bush administration arranged for all members of the bin Laden family to be flown out of the country. Even if you stop short of believing Bush knew about the attacks in advance, there are still a lot of important and unanswered questions about the whole affair.

Before you condemn Jones for signing the 911 Truth petition, you should probably read it and see who else signed it. While there are some questions on the list that may cross the line, there are several more that are perfectly reasonable ones to ask. And while I am sure some of the signatories are going to fit your definition of loonies, not all will.

I also recommend you familiarize yourself with the scope of Jones' work at the Ella Baker Center before reducing him to a label based on the latest attacks. His body of work is most impressive and relevant to any character assessment you might make of him.

As for the president's approval ratings being at 45 percent, that is one poll and by no means the consensus. In fact most polls still have him at 50 percent approval or more, and most of the rest have him at 47+ percent. But if your source is the Fox Advocacy Network or Newt Gingrich for this stuff, you are going to get misled.

Further, given the big issues the president is tackling, all the political science research would predict that it would push his approval down. That is the nature of taking on hard issues. But it is not a basis for dismissing the value of the policies being pursued.

Finally, as for Obama putting Jones "in charge" of billions of dollars for Green Jobs, he was an advisor, not in charge of the budget. That budget would be administered by the appropriate cabinet departments. Jones was there to help craft the policy. As for the Green Jobs policy, while Jones has been a major thinker in the area, the green jobs focus has been fully developed by the Center for American Progress.

_____________

So that is the gist of my reply to my old friend. It is by no means the definitive answer, but I think it begins to provide real context to the controversy and focuses on the underlying substance instead of the politically charged hatchet job rhetoric you get from Beck, Hannity and the crew at the Fox Advocacy Network. What do you expect from them, they are flawed and biased?

 

 

Follow Alan Rosenblatt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drdigipol

Comments

[aboveparr]

Great post, leaves out one thing: For thjose of of us who have admired and watched Van from afar we're more committed than ever to working with him and making his vision a reality. he didn't lose, he's going to come out an even bigger winner.

Those of you who belive 911 trurthers are bonkers are just doing so because you are terrified that the government could be capable of being so evil and manipulative, you foget that the government put crack on the streets (proven), sprayed commuters with influenza(proven) and have done all sorts of other things to fit an administration's hidden agenda(see the zeitgeist.com or 1932 by The LaRouche foundation).

Grow up.

[manny2066]

Mr. Alan Rosenblatt,with due respect ,your thoughts about Van Jones being driven to resign is totally unacceptable. According to you, Van Jones is your friend and I do understand that you are trying to make a point in the article by defending him and I don't blame you. Hatchet job? Yes,it is indeed a hatchet job and who doesn't do that? When the Republicans are in the power, the Democrats does the hatchet job and when the Democrats are in the power the Republicans does the hatchet job. It goes both ways and that's how the 'politic' works in any country in the world. Facts are facts and in this case, Van Jones brought down Van Jones, therefore, if there is anyone to be blamed, it has to be, he himself. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and Van Jones paid the price.

[SeattleDeadhead]

Good article. I have been hearing about this Van Jones fellow a lot lately and did not know much about him. I saw a couple YouTube videos and they weren't "communist" but my take is that he is pretty far left, part of the ACORN crowd, that is overly hyped up over racial "equity" issues. He reflects what I think is Obama's real philosophical bent, which is definitely way more left of center than the vast majority of Americans.

However, he did get a hatchet job on him. As a conservative, I am tired of these media hacks who claim to speak for my point of view. It is only getting worse. Clinton begat the first wave (albeit ol slick Willy brought plenty of this on himself) then the left was apoplectic for 8 years of Bush (of which the last 4 really were pretty bad in many cases) and now we have 4 more from the "right" (I am fairly confident that Obama is a one-termer). But the left is just as bad now. The whining and bitching from the left is just as bad as it is from the right.

If this is what the replacement for newspapers is, I am scared. At least there are a few places, like here, where there are some reasonable people who think.

Overall, I do "blame" the left for much of what ails this country but the right wingers, "birthers" and other goof balls on the right aren't helping..

[otto756]

Finally, a well-reasoned take on the whole petition thing. You don't have to be a "loon" to know that the government lied about what happened. All the pesky details like "the laws of physics" are coming out, slowly but surely.

[SeattleDeadhead]

These "laws of physics" are being twisted by those with a point of view. There are some very interesting and totally plausible reasons why the towers fell and looked like a controlled demo. I had been wondering about some of that stuff myself and read reports by structural engineers as to why the towers did fail as they did.

[VeryFairMOR]

This article is more fair than most here.
I can't agree with you that, "And in the Soviet Union and China, what was implemented was far closer to state capitalism and fascism than it was to Marxism or communism.­"
I believe that statement is a major history re-write. Do you dispute that the state controlled the means of production in those countries?
And how about those pesky 100 million or so that were executed in China and the Soviet Union by their own governments? It may not have been perfect communism or Marxism, but it certainly wasn't any form of capitalism. Remember, evil governments often use their ideology as merely a pretext to sieze absolute power. They like Marxism and communism becuase those forms of gorvenment give the state absolute control.
Hatchet job? Did you ever even watch Beck or Hannity. 90% of what they did was merely to play videos of Van Jones' speeches, or directly quote his writings.
You are unfair in this article at times. While condemning Beck and Hannity for every single thing they did, you "apologize", or offer excuses for Mr. Jones' truly bizarre statements.
I do applaud your stated support for the constitution and free speech. But that is setting the bar pretty low, isn't it. Unfortunately many on this site do not share your feelings about the constitution and free speech.

[tompoe]

If it helps Alan to shift his thinking on the "9/11 truther" matter, I'd point out that someone knew something about the event, and had prior knowledge. Eight years on, we are still waiting for an explanation of why the three buildings fell at the speed of "free fall". The government's explanation ignores the laws of physics to the point of proclaiming the laws of physics did not apply to the buildings coming down. Suggesting there are reasonable questions asked is about as milktoast a position as I've heard lately. You're not a milktoast are you, Alan?

[devadasi]

Thank you Alan....yo­u said what needed to be said. It was a hatchet job. We need progressives and people who think out of the box in our government­.....there are too many unimaginative civil servants who just don't cut it. Last time I checked it was not illegal to be a communist in this country; and ironically Jones' postion was more in line with the free market system than with anything even close to resembling socialism.

[VeryFairMOR]

Was Mr. Bush ever a victim of a hatchet job? Did he ever suufer such treatment?
No? I guess every attack on Mr. Bush was totally correct and perfectly true and responsible.
Do you know the definition of a hatchet job? It's when someone who disagrees with you brings up embarrassing facts that you don't want to see the light of day.
We need people who "think out of the box"?.
Van Jones thinks "out of the box" when he says he is a communist. He thinks "out of the box" when he claims white people are intentionally sending pollution into minority areas. He thinks "out of the box" when he says he wants to change our entire system of government.
Yes, we really need such brilliant out of the box thinking.

[otto756]

I don't consider it a hatchet job to say that Bush was the worst president in history, lied us into two horrible wars, and broke th country.
Those are just facts.