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Obama: Vilsack 'jumped the gun'
WASHINGTON, U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack "jumped the gun" in firing department official Shirley Sherrod for alleged racism.
In an interview with ABC News Thursday, Obama -- who spoke earlier in the day with Sherrod and expressed his regret for her dismissal -- blamed the current media culture for the incident, in which a selectively edited video was posted at a right-wing Web site and then got mainstream media coverage after Fox News Channel aired it.
Vilsack Wednesday admitted he mishandled the matter and personally asked Sherrod to come back to work at the Agriculture Department.
"(Vilsack) jumped the gun, partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog and everybody scrambles," Obama told ABC.
"If there's a lesson to be drawn from this episode, it's that rather than us jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers at each other, we should all look inward and try to examine what's in our own hearts and, as a consequence, I think we will continue to make progress," he said.
The White House said Obama reached Sherrod by telephone at about 12:35 p.m. EDT Thursday, and they spoke for 7 minutes.
"The president expressed to Ms. Sherrod his regret about the events of the last several days," the White House said in a statement. "He emphasized that (Agriculture) Secretary (Tom) Vilsack was sincere in his apology yesterday, and in his work to rid USDA of discrimination."
Obama told Sherrod "that this misfortune can present an opportunity for her to continue her hard work on behalf of those in need, and he hopes that she will do so."
Sherrod, who appeared on several daytime television shows, including ABC's "The View," told a CNN producer she had received a text message from the president that indicated he had been trying to reach her since Wednesday night.
She said she was very pleased with her conversation with Obama, CNN reported. The president expressed his regret that Sherrod, an African-American, had been asked to resign as the USDA's director for rural development in Georgia after video clips of excerpts from a speech she gave to the NAACP in March were taken out of context by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, making it appear she was racist in her treatment of a white farmer. The white farmer later praised Sherrod for helping him save his farm decades ago.
WASHINGTON, U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack "jumped the gun" in firing department official Shirley Sherrod for alleged racism.
In an interview with ABC News Thursday, Obama -- who spoke earlier in the day with Sherrod and expressed his regret for her dismissal -- blamed the current media culture for the incident, in which a selectively edited video was posted at a right-wing Web site and then got mainstream media coverage after Fox News Channel aired it.
Vilsack Wednesday admitted he mishandled the matter and personally asked Sherrod to come back to work at the Agriculture Department.
"(Vilsack) jumped the gun, partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog and everybody scrambles," Obama told ABC.
"If there's a lesson to be drawn from this episode, it's that rather than us jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers at each other, we should all look inward and try to examine what's in our own hearts and, as a consequence, I think we will continue to make progress," he said.
The White House said Obama reached Sherrod by telephone at about 12:35 p.m. EDT Thursday, and they spoke for 7 minutes.
"The president expressed to Ms. Sherrod his regret about the events of the last several days," the White House said in a statement. "He emphasized that (Agriculture) Secretary (Tom) Vilsack was sincere in his apology yesterday, and in his work to rid USDA of discrimination."
Obama told Sherrod "that this misfortune can present an opportunity for her to continue her hard work on behalf of those in need, and he hopes that she will do so."
Sherrod, who appeared on several daytime television shows, including ABC's "The View," told a CNN producer she had received a text message from the president that indicated he had been trying to reach her since Wednesday night.
She said she was very pleased with her conversation with Obama, CNN reported. The president expressed his regret that Sherrod, an African-American, had been asked to resign as the USDA's director for rural development in Georgia after video clips of excerpts from a speech she gave to the NAACP in March were taken out of context by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, making it appear she was racist in her treatment of a white farmer. The white farmer later praised Sherrod for helping him save his farm decades ago.
