Glenn Beck's Moment Has Arrived

The biggest winner from the the whole Van Jones affair is Glenn Beck. After all, it was Beck that lead the charge against Van Jones. Beck was ahead of this story from the beginning, but it was this latest week that he put Jones in his own crosshairs.


Once Beck made him the centerpiece of his show it didn't take but a week for Jones to be gone. That says two things about Beck. First, his instincts are there. How many liberals couldn't get enough of the "Downing Street Memos"? They spent endless hours hyperanalyzing them and it all went nowhere. Beck makes no bones about the idea that he has no use for the President. That can cloud your judgment and Beck could have gone off the rails over something trivial. He didn't. He was able to spot a story and went with it long before most were looking at it hard.

Second, it shows that Beck's media star has power, all sorts of power. Lot's of people were calling attention to Jones for many months and it wasn't until Beck dedicated himself to really exposing him that he went. He went quickly. All it took was a week of serious pressure and Jones was gone.

Now that Beck has serious momentum, he isn't going to stop. The Jones saga opens up several different fronts for Beck, and he will likely look to exploit both of them. He can draw attention to other radicals in Obama's adminstration: Harold Koh, Dr. Zek Emanual, Cass Sunstein, and Jon Holdren among them. He could also go after the universe of czars. They are, arguably, totally unconstitutional. They certainly create a government that isn't transparent. Furthermore, Jones was clearly not vetted properly. So, how many others have skeletons? Beck has a plethora of angles on this if he wants it.

Beck is already saying that there are questions still unresolved about the firing of Van Jones.

The American people stood up and demanded answers. Instead of providing them, the administration had Jones resign under cover of darkness. ... Judging by the other radicals in the administration, I expect that questioning to continue for the foreseeable future.

Now, the only way to read that statement from Beck is that he sees all sorts of issues that surround the Van Jones firing and he's just getting started. Watch for Beck to put the spotlight on someone else in the administration that he sees as radical. Watch for him to continue to explore the issues surrounding Jones and the czars.

Most dramatic is that the White House has no answer. Beck was brilliant last week in constantly pointing out that the White House wasn't responding to repeated inquiries. Beck has moved from simply being a media phenomenon to a pundit that can affect change. Very few can say that. His colleague Bill O'Reilly is one. He was able to help get Jessica's Law passed an nearly every state, he stopped Ludicris from getting a Pepsi deal, and most recently his reporting forced the hand of Oklahoma's AG and that AG has filed more charges against convicted child rapist David Earls.

Beck may have that kind of power. That's all sorts of power. Glenn Beck's moment has just arrived and his star will only go up from here. (by the way, I rarely watch Beck myself so this is not some promo of my favorite pundit, which would be Bill O'Reilly)