AND THE SPIN IS ON - AT 8:22 P.M. ET:  Today is normally one of the slowest news days of the year.  But news never stops in the Age of Obama.  Now that Van Jones, resident red and confirmed crackpot, has resigned from the administration, the spin is on.  The Politico gives us the mainstream media position:

With the resignation of green jobs adviser Van Jones, the conservative firing squad is setting its sights on other White House czars.

The resignation of Jones — who stepped down from his post as the White House green jobs adviser early Sunday morning, citing a "vicious smear campaign" waged against him by "opponents of reform" — was a win for conservative politicians and pundits who waged a months-long campaign hammering him for comments he made in his previous post as an environmental activist for poor and minority communities.

Right next to this depiction of Jones as victim-of-the-day, there's a warm, fuzzy picture of him.  Just your average smiling guy, friend of all.  How could you not love him?

Now, right-wing politicians and pundits are looking for other White House czars with controversial pasts. "Van Jones is the tip of the iceberg. As VJ has said, "'Personnel is policy,"" conservative pundit Glenn Beck Twittered on Friday. Attacking Obama’s advisers, conservatives believe, will raise questions about the judgment of their popular boss.

COMMENT:  You'll notice that "conservative" has now been upgraded to "right wing."  And it's a bit much to suggest that conservatives are now "looking for" other czars with difficult pasts.  Conservatives have been talking about some of them for months.

And I love the term, "popular boss."  The writer apparently hasn't been following the polls.

It won't be long before the Obama White House labels all this a "distraction."  But personnel is indeed policy.  Early on, some conservative Obama watchers warned that it's the middle-level appointments that are often most troubling in an administration.  It's at the middle level that policy is often made and carried out.

Of course, the whole subject is a bit awkward, as there are many things about the president that we don't know.  But the media's apparent position on that is, "Don't ask, don't tell."

September 6, 2009