Van Jones' Departure: A costly error for the Obama administration?

Van Jones, green jobs advisor to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, resigned his Obama administration post early this morning.

"Jones found himself in conservatives' crosshairs after it was revealed that he signed a petition in support of 9/11 "truther" conspiracy theorists and called Republicans "assholes" in a video taped before he was tapped to head up the White House's green jobs program," reports Slate. "Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., [photo, left] was calling for a congressional inquiry into Jones' past," which included membership in activist groups that some, including Fox News fantasist Glenn Beck, have termed "radical."

The most immediate downside here is that one of the nation's most eloquent, effective advocates for improving the lives of millions of lower-wage workers, and righting long-endured social and economic injustices -- all via creating a low-carbon, more climate-neutral economy -- will no longer be at the service of the president.

That's a loss to the entire nation.

This debacle is unlikely to be the undoing of Van Jones, however. He is inspired at communicating and realizing his vision of an inclusively better future, and well-respected in the progressive political community.

If and as the truth emerges, I don't think it will be those 9/11 investigation endorsements that led the Obama administration to toss Jones overboard. Yes, he should have given those petitions a closer read. But remember how you were feeling about the attacks and the Iraq war in 2004? 'Nuff said.

It won't even be for calling Republicans assholes in public.

[[I mean, really: Who hasn't called Republicans assholes?]]

This sort of thing is equal opportunity. Recall that in 2004, then-Vice President Dick Cheney told Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Ver.) to "Fuck yourself" on the floor of the Senate. It far from ended his political career.

What may have Jones too much of a liability for the Obama administration is that he has often let his anger about racism show. Keeping a telegenic, iconic "angry black man" in-house would threaten President Obama's carefully composed, hard-won posture of ushering in a new era in post-racial politics.

Still, cutting Van Jones loose could prove to be a costly loss for the Obama administration.

This wasn't so much about Glenn Beck and his vast green jobs conspiracy theory, however enticing a target the Fox Newser makes himself.

It was about how some Republican legislators took advantage of Beck's well-distributed crazy to hassle and distract the Obama administration -- enough to ultimately set back energy, economic, and climate policy reforms.

And it's about the administration's outsized sensitivity and suprise at this sort of clamor from a small (if vocal) portion of the electorate -- and its avatars -- that will not be swayed by reason or truth.

With Jones' departure, there's blood in the water, and these sharks are going to move on to their next prey among the president's advisors and appointees.

The Democrats are in the Congressional majority. But unlike their colleagues across the aisle, they're much less monolithic in their ideology and goals. As Will Rogers famously said, "I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat."

As long as the Democrats remain at odds within themselves on climate and energy policy, and the Obama administration holds back on expending some political capital on these reforms, the minority GOP legislators retain enormous power to derail greenhouse gas pollution cuts, the phase-out of coal-fired power, and the rapid expansion of clean energy generation.

These particular legislators seem impervious to facts -- as my Grist colleague Dave Roberts puts it, this is all about "bitch-slap politics." But they are weak when it comes to increased public scrutiny, to craving approval, and ultimately, if the Democrats can get it together, to being rendered largely irrelevant in energy and climate policy reform.

These are the people who climate action advocates will focus on -- bluntly, directly and aggressively -- if they want to win.

If they want to lose, they'll focus on Glenn Beck.