Another worthless softball interview by Brian Lehrer. And I'm way on the pro-eco side of these issues. Everything Van Jones said was his well honed eco/political boilerplate. Even when Brian questioned him on related issues in Spain, Van first denied that the Obama admin had ever said anything like Brian said they said, then went on not answering the question. No challenging him or followup by Brian, as usual.
Van for example touted the federal money being spent on getting housing of low income people insulated. A much smarter, politically and ecologically, policy would be to spend a lot more and get EVERYONE's housing and all commercial buildings insulated and improved in energy efficiency in other ways as well.
Typically being an enabler rather than a challenger makes the Brian Lehrer show often boring radio and does not well serve the intelligent wnyc audience.

Isn't it the so-called innovation of the private sector that has come up with the failed approaches of BP toward cleaning up the spill? Why is it that the administration didn't *take over* (not just assist, as the coast guard et al has been doing) the cleanup? Had the administration taken the approach the earlier caller suggested, of focusing on New Deal-style jobs programs, of a larger govmt role in employment--and in actually creating (rather than "encouraging") green jobs--perhaps the creativity of government workers would have cleaned up the mistakes BP has an interest in covering up.

@ Chuzzlewit - Clearly he's a left-wing radical who has been exposed...ha, ha, ha...wrong.

The reason he was drummed out of the Obama admin. was the overt connection he made between new forms of work in a new paradigm that dealt with accepting and addressing climate change, a reality that is denied by a large minority of the U.S. who are afraid of moving away from traditional industries and ways of work in a globalized economy. As one could say: They're scrrt.

This radical kook is nothing more a left wing version of a teabagger. Thank heaven he was exposed as such and forced out of the administration.

while this guy has great ideas for a green economy, his need to inject race and social status into the workforce that will accomplish this does his message a disservice.

When Van Jones left after Glenn Beck's hit job on him, I was dismayed and began to wonder if Rahm was chief of staff or Beck. Jones was the right man for the right job and he left for speaking the truth, Republicans are stupid circa 2008 and 8 years of their policies bringing this country to its knees.