Where's The Media Savvy White House

What was the common conventional wisdom from the media during the election? The Obama campaign was focused, disciplined and savvy. They were so sophisticated in the new media that they always out flanked McCain. There was nothing they could do wrong.

Well, they may in fact be super savvy on the uses of Youtube, twitter, and the like. Yet, it appears they aren't all that polished on the basics of media. Let's take message. The President is set to give a make or break speech next Wednesday. Support for health care reform is slipping, in fact, it's cratering. He needs to gain all the momentum he can get going into the speech.

So, what has the White House allowed? They've allowed for Van Jones to turn into a major story all week this week. All they had to do was fire him. That's all they had to do. He doesn't even have a real job. He's the green jobs czar. That's a job Obama created. The government can run without a green jobs czar.

It's long past time where there was evidence that he needed to be removed. He should have never been hired. When it was leaked he used to be a Communist it was probably time for him to go. When several of his most absurd and radical statements were leaked, it was long past time for him to go. When it was leaked he's a 9/11 truther, then the situation became critical.

That was yesterday morning. Now, the White House isn't necessarily one hundred percent behind him.



Yet, they haven't fired him just yet. So, he's still a major media story. If my calculations are correct, we have 127 hours until the President's speech. Every minute that Van Jones isn't fired is a minute that everyone in the media universally condemns all that he said and says that he needs to go. I'm sure that Van Jones is a nice guy. I think it's great that he lifted himself up after jail and became successful, but he has no business being anywhere near policy. Everyone understands this but the ones that matter.

The White House seems determined to let cable news allow their talking heads to universally condemn this in no uncertain terms for at least a few more hours. Health care reform is already on life support. He's already dealing with back lash about his speech to the kids for school next week. This is not a distraction that he needs right now. It's very simple. Fire him and the distraction goes away. Keep him around and we get hyper analysis of all that he stands for.

The longer he's around, the longer the President's opponents can wonder if the President believes everything that Van Jones believes. Van Jones believes policy is a tool of social justice and income redistribution. Extrapolate that to health care policy and everyone's worst fears are true. Government takeover, rationing, and higher taxes for all but those that have no health care is what social justice and income redistribution in health care translates to. So, how many more hours does the President want to allow his opponents to wonder aloud about this link?

The people are skeptical already. The president doesn't need several more hours of talking heads making these leaps to health care. This is being media brain dead. He's the green jobs czar. He's not only unnecessary but his job is a waste. Get rid of him, Mr. President. It's media savvy 101.