CNN Commentator Van Jones: ���The Clinton Days Are Over���
Appearing Sunday on his own network���s State of the Union program, CNN���s leftist talking head Van Jones made it clear that, in his opinion, the Clintons were done wielding any significant power from within the Democratic Party.
Speaking with host Jake Tapper, Jones said, ���You have to understand, I think that the Clinton days are over. This idea that we're going to be this moderate party that's going to move in this direction, that's going to throw blacks under the bus for criminal justice reform, and for prison expansion, that's going to throw workers under the bus for NAFTA, those days are over.���
At the same time, Jones sang the praises of what he sees as the new generation of party leaders. One person of whom Jones is especially fond is Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress and regarded as a leading candidate to replace Debbie Wasserman Schultz as permanent chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
���I think that Keith Ellison is very important because he is somebody who represents the progressive wing of the party," said Jones. ���One thing that happened, when Hillary Clinton had a chance to make a VP pick, she didn't pick someone from the progressive wing, which made it much harder to heal those wounds with the (Bernie) Sanders and Elizabeth Warren wing. Keith Ellison represents that wing very, very well.���
Of particular interest is that Jones seems to be of the mind that the Democratic Party failed in 2016 because it was not progressive enough. This apparent conclusion tends to fly in the face of what many saw throughout 2016���namely, an energized base of voters, reflecting more traditional values, telling a Democratic candidate they saw as being plenty progressive that they were simply not going to entrust to her the country, including future Supreme Court appointments in the near term.
Evidently, Van Jones does not interpret the previous year in quite the same way.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
