The Unvetting of Van Jones

Regarding the vetting of Van Jones: "It is the nature of Pres. Obama and his fellow travelers that the administration needs to have swept under the proverbial rug. Making the story about vetting serves the Obama administration on several levels. It deflects blame to a relatively anonymous bureaucracy, but more important, suggests that the Jones appointment is an aberration.

However, the tactic of shifting the story from substance to process carries its own measure of risk. First, over time, people may yet come to learn that the Van Jones hire was not an isolated incident, resulting in a loss of credibility. Second, people are already figuring out that Pres. Obama is pursuing a raft of left-wing policies; this cannot be covered up with a midnight resignation. Third, a narrative of incompetence is corrosive. Incompetence of this sort has little political traction — until the administration is seen as doing a big thing badly, like Hurricane Katrina or the Iranian hostage crisis. Should that sort of event occur, Obama’s weakened political infrastructure may collapse under its own weight." [Paterico]