WHY DID JONES RESIGN? - AT 8:57 A.M. ET:  As reported yesterday, the spin machine is in full whirl, as the administration tries to explain why radical crackpot Van Jones resigned Saturday night as the president's "green jobs" czar.  From CNN:

The resignation of Obama administration figure Van Jones, following controversies over a petition he had signed and his comments about Republicans, did not come at the request of the president, the White House senior adviser said Sunday.

"Absolutely not -- this was Van Jones' own decision," David Axelrod told NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked if the president had ordered the resignation.

COMMENT:  Not a good image.  Axelrod is an adept political adviser, and he's trying to balance interests here - the outrage most sane people felt that a man with Jones's views could be part of the president's administration, and the anger over Jones's departure felt by the nutbag wing of the Democratic Party, which for years has celebrated people like Van Jones, or, at the very least, has given them a pass. 

But the image created by Axelrod's statement is one of presidential indecision and weakness - a growing problem for this administration.  The president, as Fred Barnes recently wrote, often comes off as weak.  The best statement in the Jones case would have probably been one that left the decision to Jones, but made plain the president's substantial dismay at Jones's views - in other words, a public hint at what the president really wanted.

September 7, 2009