When I put up the Van Jones video from NN10 last night — you can open another window with that video — I expected many of the comments would express views ranging from disappointment to anger, and some surprise that Jones remains an ardent supporter of the President. But I was surprised that only one or two commenters picked up on Van Jones’ Titanic and Lord of the Rings metaphors.

Those metaphors reveal a great deal about the large split between patient but concerned loyalists and the disillusioned/disgusted and those beyond. They also help clarify the issue that has been misnamed the “Obama paradox,” something I don’t think is the slightest bit paradoxical, though I understand how the loyalists might see it differently. What do these metaphors tells us, not so much about Jones, but about all of us?

In his Titanic metaphor, Jones said something like this,

Remember, Obama volunteered to be the captain of the Titanic, after it hit the iceberg.

. . . and then he used that to express his own more sympathetic portrait of the President and the challenges he and the country face. So let’s take that where it might lead.

I’m fairly certain Van Jones does not believe the end of the real drama called American democracy is that the ship sinks and most aboard her are lost, save for a few rich people who steal the lifeboats. The real Titanic sank and thousands died. In the real and Hollywood versions, the ship was highly segregated between the wealthy class and steerage, the privileges of wealth were beyond counting, the deprivation below decks a different story. The people in charge were fools, the security people’s main job was to enforce the unfair distribution of wealth and privilege, those steering the ship were driven by greed and arrogance to take excessive risks but were asleep at the helm.  . . .

I got a phone call last night from a seminary classmate. An old college friend of hers had just committed suicide, likely fueled by hopelessness and depression at the end of a bitter divorce fight. The friend’s ex asked my classmate to share the news with whatever other college friends ought to know about it, and my classmate had hit the wall. “These are tough calls to make, and I need to vent to someone else. Have you got some time to talk?”

I did. Actually, I didn’t, but I made time — a couple of hours’ worth.

Then came this morning’s paper:

Suicides among Army and Air National Guard and Reserve troops have spiked this year, and the military is at a loss to explain why.

Sixty-five members of the Guard and Reserve took their own lives during the first six months of 2010, compared with 42 for the same period in 2009. The grim tally is further evidence that suicides continue to plague the military even though it’s stepped up prevention efforts through counseling and mental health awareness programs.

“Suicides among military personnel and veterans are at an epidemic rate, and it’s getting worse,” said Tim Embree, a former Marine who served two tours in Iraq and is now a legislative associate for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group.

Last week, the Army announced that 32 soldiers, including 11 in the Guard and Reserve, took their own lives in June, a rate of one a day and a level not seen since the Vietnam War, according to the military.

Seven of the suicides occurred in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The worrisome trend is reflected in Missouri, where the state Army and Air National Guards have suffered six suicides so far this year, their highest total in a decade. They account for nearly a quarter of the 27 suicides experienced since the Missouri Guard started keeping records in 2001. . .

Explanations are hard to come by. The suicides could have nothing — or everything — to do with the victims’ military service.

“It is the separation from our families, it is the lack of a support structure in our personal lives sometimes, financial challenges, relationships — we know that,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a recent talk about the suicide problem to troops in South Korea.

Mullen is exactly right.

Look at Katrina.

photo: Unlisted Sightings via Flickr

Amid the frustration of a sidelined policy agenda despite large majorities in both houses of Congress, attendees and policymakers at Netroots Nation turned to procedural reform as a way to break the deadlock and bring some accountability back to the legislative branch.

The filibuster has the potential to be a real litmus test in the midterm election. More recent members of the Senate, like Jeff Merkley and Tom Udall, have been the most vocal about changing the chamber’s rules, and the new candidates looking for attention at Netroots Nation have also highlighted their support of reform. Jack Conway, the Attorney General of Kentucky, who is running against Rand Paul in the Bluegrass State, told FDL News that he strongly supports filibuster reform. “When I go around the state, some people tell me that the filibuster is in the Constitution, but it’s not, and it’s changed over the years. There’s nothing magical about 60 votes. It could be 55, it could be 51, the filibuster could be something the minority could only use five times a session. I would be supportive of any of that.” Conway highlighted his opponent’s willingness to obstruct and filibuster everything, being someone attempting to become a lawmaker who doesn’t believe in lawmaking. “Can you imagine adding Rand Paul to the Party of No? That’s why other Senators and people in the party keep saying to me, you’ve gotta win this race.”

Other Senate candidates, like Elaine Marshall and Alexi Giannoulias, have announced their support of filibuster reform, with more expected.

As much as the filibuster allows a minority to painlessly block initiatives, it allows them to delay and extend the calendar, and essentially run out the clock on the Senate. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) said in a panel on judicial confirmations that the average non-controversial judicial nominee, one who gets a voice vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, still takes 2-4 months to get a final vote. “We’ve done a terrible job” on moving the nominees, Cardin acknowledged, and he explicitly tied it to an effort by Republicans to run out the clock. Cardin’s Maryland colleague, Barbara Mikulski, assailed the filibuster on the Senate floor this week, and called for reform.  . . .