I have a bunch of feelings about this, but the first thing I thought was that “maybe now we can get the green jobs movement moving again.”

Honestly, I don’t think the Republicans attack on Jones is about Jones at all.  He was a mid-level appointee.  But he was an easy target, since he is an actual liberal (of which there are so few in the Obama administration).  And, signing a Truther petition is basically a big bullseye smack dab over the heart, folks.

This was about the Right gaining traction around the notion that Obama’s a closet Communist/lefty out to destroy the nation.  Dude isn’t even progressive, but the nutsos will never believe that.  Especially not now.

And the Right will continue to bring this up well after Jones is gone.  Obama will have to explain why he hired him, how come he didn’t know about the petition, etc.  Obama will answer, but the crazies don’t care about the why and his answer will just be part of the political theater that occurs with stuff like this.  The crazies just wanted something on which to hang the “Obama = communist” tag. And they got it.  And it will probably haunt the rest of this term and his re-election campaign.

For Jones himself, I doubt this will significantly affect his ability to do what he does really really well – organize.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes more effective outside the administration.  And we need it, since the energy bill still has to get through the Senate.

I guess we’ll see.

Related posts:

1. On Politics and the Sorry State of Affairs (or, you know, the Democrats)