The Duke and the dauphin and the activist

This bit of news, courtesy of City Journal, on Van Jones, President Obama’s new chief advisor on green jobs,   is bound to annoy a few. I particularly enjoyed this part:

In a New Yorker profile last year, Jones revealed that while in college he changed his name from Anthony, which he considered dull. He picked “Van” for his new moniker, he said, because “it has a little touch of nobility. But at the same time it’s not overboard.”

“Van,” of course, signifies a hereditary title (it was not uncommon in the early 20th-century for wealthy Jews to purchase “vans” from penniless European heirs). There is in any case an illustrious pedigree of American hucksters passing themselves off as nobility. I welcome Mr. Jones to the club, though I can’t help but wish I weren’t footing his bill.