Smilin' Faces

After eight years of high-camp adventure under the Bush administration, Team Obama's zany cast of characters offers a marvel of apologist unpredictability.

For instance, Van Jones, who on Wednesday issued a public apology for calling Republicans "assholes" just before landing his current gig as Obama's Green Jobs Czar. In a heavy-hitting YouTube video of the event, Jones' herculean slip of the tongue came during a February energy speech in Berkeley when a woman in attendance asked why President Obama, with a smaller Republican majority in Congress, is having such a tough time passing laws while it seemed so easy for President Bush. "The answer to that is, they're assholes," said Jones to a roar of laughter. "That's a technical, political, science term."

While it could have been the gin talking that night, Jones' apology seemed nothing short of an attempt to soberly assuage the opposition, prompted by a Politico blog pointing out the slip-up. Jones' written apology, to wit: "I apologize for the offensive words I chose to use during that speech. They do not reflect the views of this administration, which has made every effort to work in a bipartisan fashion, and they do not reflect the experience I have had since I joined the administration."

With the current deadlock over health care in Congress, Jones' timely apology seems awkward, if not misplaced. With Democrats unable to muster even 50 votes among their own camp in favor of their own health care plan, perhaps the Real Issue that Congress should be debating is the necessary and absolute ridding of Special Interest groups and corporate campaign contributions from Washington altogether. Only then will legislators finally bend to the will and needs of the voters they represent. Until that time, there are no Republicans and Democrats, only a big gray area of fors and againsts dictated by the whims of big business.

Either way, it looks like PC is once again the mode du jour. However, a little politeness has always been a great place to start in warming the opposition. Even if it is within one's own tribe.

'Nuff said.

Photo courtesy DoctorWho via Flickr.