If President Obama wants a mentor to get him through his current troubles, he only needs to look back about 40 years to Richard Nixon.

Rick Perlstein's Nixonland provides a fascinating view into how Nixon moved from being a distrusted also-ran in American politics to the President. In sort, Nixon preyed on resentment. He realized that the average American opposed the Vietnam War, but they opposed Vietnam War protesters even more. To really hammer home the point, Nixon's advance team would send out invites to select radicals to one of Nixon's appearances. And then they'd show up – a few disheveled, surly protesters amid a sea of silent, respectable listeners. It  drove the point home: Those who opposed Nixon were clearly nuts.

I had an "Impeach Nixon" sticker on my Peter Max binder in fifth grade but came away from the book with a newfound admiration for the man.

So onto Van Jones, who resigned this week after concerted attacks from the more vocal end of the conservative spectrum. President Obama says he wants to govern from consensus (so did Nixon). At the same time, Obama's supporters can use the episode to begin to draw a line between those that want to move forward, and those that seem more interested in obstructing the process of governing.

The White House still hopes to pass a climate bill this year: Rather than focus on the resignation, the White House can hammer home the point that clean energy is the way to produce jobs and investment in the U.S. (The White House has been aiming for September 23, but it has likely been pushed out.) The silent majority is waiting for jobs outside of factories in Pittsburgh. It's a simple choice, the President's supporters can imply. You can stand with the White House, or with those guys in the parking lot showing off their guns. And at a minimum, to avoid the natural tendency of the Democratic Party to crawl into the fetal position during a smear campaign. (Disclosure: I am a registered Democrat.)

In many ways, this is a golden opportunity.