Sherrod flap puts heat on secretary of agriculture

We've been following the ouster of former Georgia Rural Development Director Shirley Sherrod by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (right) and his subsequent apology; now much of the focus has shifted to Vilsack himself. The firing appears to be an out-of-character rush to judgment by the former presidential candidate, who is likely to retain his job even after the White House's public apology to Sherrod on Wednesday, according to published reports.

"The former Iowa governor precipitously fired a black Agriculture Department official and then issued an anguished mea culpa that took all day Wednesday to materialize," writes Philip Brasher, the Washington reporter for the Des Moines Register. "The episode embarrassed an administration already weighed down by the sagging economy and slumping poll numbers and instead focused the nation's attention on the explosive issue of race."

"This is a good woman. She has been put through hell," Vilsack said in his public apology Wednesday after full video of Sherrod's remarks showed that her description of her discriminating against a white farmer in a job with a nonprofit 24 years ago was actually part of a story of how she overcame prejudice. "I could have done and should have done a better job," Vilsack said. He has offered Sherrod a senior civil-rights post that would take advantage of her personal experience in dealing with discrimination.

During his daily press briefing Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs expressed support for Vilsack, but he called the firing a "disservice" that was made "without knowing all the facts." Norman Ornstein, a political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, told Brasher, "It's fairly clear that for probably very good motives Secretary Vilsack moved prematurely, clearly, on this issue, and it's creating an embarrassment."

Vilsack, like most agriculture secretaries, usually works out of the media spotlight, but he may have a tougher job that most of his predecessors as the Obama administration tries to make the department more responsive to a broader public and erase its history of racial discrimination. "Vilsack has received high marks for his efforts to resolve long-standing racial discrimination claims against the department, an issue that's plagued the USDA since the Clinton administration," Brasher writes. "He said he acted too hastily in firing Sherrod because he wanted to avoid any appearance of racism in the department."

Sherrod told the Associated Press she hadn't yet decided whether she would accept Vilsack's offer. "It took too long, but it makes me feel better that the apology is finally coming," she told CNN following the White House apology. (Read more) This afternoon The White House released this "readout" of a call President Obama made to Sherrod: "The President reached Ms. Sherrod by telephone at about 12:35. They spoke for seven minutes. The President expressed to Ms. Sherrod his regret about the events of the last several days. He emphasized that Secretary Vilsack was sincere in his apology yesterday, and in his work to rid USDA of discrimination. The President told Ms. 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."