Putting the "D" in Decision

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.

“Haven’t you people figured it out yet? He (Obama) does not make any decisions or give orders. He let Congress write all of “his” bills. Rahm (Emanuel) and I control his every move. The only thing the President orders is the occasional pizza.”

In a written statement Jones explained his decision.
"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 my own words, via video and print media, to distract and divide. They are assholes”

The decision followed an uproar over a petition Jones signed in 2004 calling for an investigation into whether government officials deliberately allowed the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to occur.

An administration source said last week that Jones had not carefully reviewed the language in the petition before signing. “I don’t fault Jones one bit. We don’t even make our congressmen read the legislation they themselves are voting on. And do you think Obama reads the stuff he signs into law?”

Asked whether Jones was the victim of a smear campaign, Axelrod did not say either way, but did say "the political environment is rough, and so, you know, these things get magnified. And since we have the human gaffe machine Joe (Biden) we figured anybody in the administration could do or say just about anything and get away with it."