Obama Adviser Van Jones Resigns

Realistically, considering how the GOP has,in the past, made offensive remarks about Barack Obama and his family, using racist slurs, that part of the equation is probably nil, and frankly, shouldn't have caused Van Jose to resign. Being one of the "9/11 Truthers," however, is more problematic.

Van Jones issued a resignation statement,just past midnight on Sunday morning, in which he said:

"On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.

"I have been inundated with calls -- from across the political spectrum -- urging me to 'stay and fight.' But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future."

Van Jones issued two public apologies in recent days. One of them was for signing a petition that questioned whether Bush administration officials "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war," a so-called "9/11 truther" theory, and the other for using an offensive term to describe Republicans in a speech he gave before joining the administration.

Despite the apologies, GOP members demanded that Van Jones resign, and thus, he has. Whether he did so simply so as not to distract from the upcoming health care reform fight is unclear.