Ultima di una serie intensissima nelle ultime 48 ore, anche Arianna Huffington attacca la campagna che ha costretto alle dimissioni Van Jones, stimatissimo consigliere per l’ambiente di Barack Obama, colpevole di aver dato degli “assholes” ai Repubblicani

Contrary to the media caricature, the real Van Jones is a thoughtful leader who knows how to use words to move people to action. To stick him behind a desk, working out the details of tax credits for green jobs — incredibly important though the job is — was never the best use of his unique and abundant skills.

This is not an attempt to put a positive spin on an ugly episode. I’ve actually been feeling this way ever since Van told me he was taking this job.

I remember going to the White House this spring for a briefing of journalists by David Axelrod. Before the meeting, Van and I met for a quick coffee and I was hit with the same overwhelming thought: how much we were going to miss his voice on the outside.

Now, thanks to Glenn Beck, we’ve got that voice back. No longer tied to his desk with a sock in his mouth, Van is now freed to do what he does best: inspire and energize groups around the country. Student groups and labor groups and small business groups and middle class Americans everywhere who are losing jobs and losing homes and losing hope. He’s free to push with all his might and insight for the vision tens of millions of Americans tirelessly worked for during the presidential campaign — the vision they voted for in November — but which is now in danger of being drowned in the fetid political swamps of Washington.

If Glenn Beck had any sense at all, he would have done everything in his power to keep Van Jones right where he was.