Michael Oko, the federal media director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), has posted a blog on NRDC’s official website in defense of Van Jones. On its website, NRDC, a registered 501(c)3 group, describes itself as a “not-for-profit, tax-exempt, membership organization” with over 1.2 million members, with a staff of “300+ lawyers, scientists and policy experts.”
On his NRDC blog, Oko writes:
In his words, Jones was taken down by a “vicious smear campaign” by those who are “using lies and distortions to distract and divide.” These include far right-wingers, especially Glen Beck of Fox News, who launched a vicious campaign against him, labeling him as a socialist and worse. This is the type of nasty politics that the opponents of change have been using for years, tying together loose rhetoric, misinformation and fear to block change for America. This clearly goes beyond any one action or individual– and speaks to the worst aspects of our current political culture.
There is a cautionary note here, especially since Jones has many similarities with Obama. He’s a smart, driven, 21st Century, African-American leader. Both have a rare combination of intelligence, bold ideas and charismatic personalities. And, of course, Jones, like Obama, was a progressive “community organizer,” who suddenly found himself in the center of the D.C. political scene.
This combination of qualities is extremely threatening to many on the far-right, where bold ideas and action stand in contrast with stasis and incrementalism that is commonplace inside and outside of beltway. Sadly, the Glen Beck-crowd used their own extremist, fiery rhetoric and big media platforms to take down Jones.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that, as the blogger Kate Shepperd has argued, Jones may now be liberated by working from the outside, where he can return to mobilizing and exciting young people and activists, who need his energy and strong voice. Interestingly, in August, I was at the Netroots Nation conference (where Jones was the keynote speaker in 2008) and at one roundtable discussion I attended, Jones was picked as the runaway favorite as most people’s environmental hero. His heroic status should only grow greater now that he’s been pushed to the outside.
This is an important moment. Congress is returning from a volatile August recess, and the Senate will soon take up energy and climate legislation. Now is the time for people who care about jobs, clean energy and the climate to come together and focus on these serious issues. We need leaders who are willing to present big ideas and take tough action for America’s future. We know that the opposition will take their shots — but our leaders cannot back down. The opposition is out of solutions and their only recourse is to try to block progress for our country.
As our elected officials come back to Washington this week, they will have one less champion. But, at this moment, we need even more leaders, like Van, to continue to push– from inside and out– for action that will move America in a new direction by shifting to clean energy that will create jobs and protect our planet.