The Saturday night resignation of White House green jobs advisor Van Jones is as much a story of politics as it is about cable television, as well as the drive and magnetism of Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck. Beck's show on Fox News draws around 3 million viewers a night, and it was his targeting of Van Jones that lead to Jones’ resignation.
While President Obama seems to be struggling to get his message across, Glenn Beck has no problem being heard loud and clear. To understand Glenn Beck's popularity, we speak to Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers Magazine, the leading trade publication for the talking-head set, along with Robert Thompson, professor of Television, Radio and Film at Syracuse University.
President Obama's "green-energy czar," Van Jones, has resigned unexpectedly. To understand the strange road that led to his resignation late Saturday night, we need to look back a couple of weeks, to when Glenn Beck appeared on Fox and Friends and said that President Obama "has a deep-seated hatred of white people." (Click through for Van Jones' previous appearances on The Takeaway.) For a closer look at the resignation and how this effects President Obama's favorability, we talk to Julie Mason. She covers the White House for the Washington Examiner.