Shirley Sherrod Becomes Obama Political Problem

[niceypoo]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/07/21/128668655/shirley-sherrod-becomes-obama-political-problem

As soon as much of the available evidence suggested that Shirley Sherrod had become the victim of a rush to judgment by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, it became clear President Barack Obama had a mushrooming political problem on his hands.

Sherrod went from being the villain of the piece to a figure drawing great empathy from millions, not the least of which was conservative talk show host Glen Beck.

And among those who were most closely watching the president’s handling of affair were important members of the president’s base, people he could ill afford to alienate: African Americans and liberals.

...

Adding to the pressure was Wednesday's statement by the Congressional Black Caucus calling for Sherrod's reinstatement:

“It is troubling that Shirley Sherrod was asked for her resignation as Georgia State Director for Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture because of an edited video clip. A full review of the clip demonstrates Ms. Sherrod’s personal transformation. She was clearly educating the public about the power of redemption. It is now apparent that Secretary Vilsack did not have all of the facts available to him and overreacted.

“The Congressional Black Caucus continues to believe that Ms. Sherrod was unfairly asked to resign, without due process and should be reinstated immediately. There are many individuals still serving in the Department of Agriculture who were responsible for years of discrimination against African American farmers.

Obama, the first African-American in the Oval Office, has been the president who has had to navigate the tricky subject of race more carefully than any of his predecessors, like a man picking his way through a minefield where one mistake could be his last.

[tridim]

1. NPR meet Faux, Faux meet NPR.

They actually managed to trash all the victims of the RW smear machine without even bothering to mention Faux and Breitbart a single time.

Congrats NPR, you're now worse than Politico.

[Pirate Smile]

7. Turning NPR Right Wing was a goal of the Bush White House. Mission Accomplished.

[T Wolf]

2. Slight correction - Beck IS the LEAST of anything. That aside, this is just another example

of the failure of the White House and the Dems in Congress to stand up to the GOP and their water carriers in the media and elsewhere.

[trumad]

3. Shit---blame the NAACP as well for rushing to judgement.

[FVZA_Colonel]

17. From what I know, Beck was trashing her on his radio show,

but by the time the full tape was out, he had a "change of heart."

[FrenchieCat]

4. They are working hard to make this about Pres. Obama.....

and not why in the Fuck is Fox allowed to ferment hatred against minorities via their news channel.

Sad to see, there are posters here who are working at making this about this President,
but I guess they really are into the personalities after all, not really the "issues",
as they claim.

Funny (not really) how that works.

[AdHocSolver]

5. Democratic leadership made a kneejerk reaction without researching the facts.

That is not leadership. That displays defensiveness which people on the fence will interpret as weakness and indecisiveness.

The alpha dog is not necessarily the strongest or the smartest, but the most self assured and aggressive.

[FrenchieCat]

6. It's called making a mistake.

Happens all of the fucking time,
and it will happen again.

There needs to be an apology and a reinstatement offer,
but the real sin committed was committed by those who
appear will get away without the people (that would be us)
holding them accountable.

The fact that for some, even before the story on this is over
are making pronouncements means that they too are kneejerking,
in the rush to submit their judgement on the entire matter
prior to all being said and done.

Again......Fox news and friends committed willful fraud,
but we seem to accept this with our pants pulled down,
while we bend over.

Negativity generated by this incident toward this administration
doesn't help us, and doesn't help the American people,
it only helps the culprits....and it appears that some are fine with that.
I'm not.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Not like the White House or the NAACP had any reason to be skeptical about Breitbart...

I still find it hard to comprehend that this was a tape of an NAACP event..and they were still "snookered"?

[AdHocSolver]

10. Fox news and friends are always committing willful fraud.

Why doesn't the Democratic Party leadership realize this instead of always falling for the same political tricks.

Vilsack could have issued a statement to the effect that an issue arose about an employee in his department and he has appointed a committee to investigate the situation and recommend what action, if any, is needed. This is done all the time in business and government.

The current Democratic Party leadership appears to be more concerned with playing politics than supporting policy or principles. Running away from a fight does not win the support of the people who placed their bets on you.

[frylock]

12. they continue to repeat the same mistakes..

negativity generated by this incident toward this adminstration helps the adminstration to learn that maybe, just MAYBE, they should get all their facts before reacting in the manner they did.

keep fucking that chicken!

[BrklynLiberal]

8. At least they said "minefield" and not "briarpatch"....

[SunsetDreams]

11. Everything is a Political Problem for Obama

[tranche]

13. Is it his Katrina?

[Uzybone]

14. The prism by which the Media (including the internet) looks at race is very troubling

[Arkana]

15. I think the great thing about this is that the story got turned on its head.

Breitbart may not get what he wants after all--and since he made Fox News look bad they may not give him a call the next time they need a doctored video.

[FVZA_Colonel]

16. And all the while, Andrew Breitbart gets away scot-free.

So far, at least.