Vilsack Falls On His Sword For The Dear Leader

In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, President Obama said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had acted prematurely in firing Shirley Sherrod.

Sherrod, who is African-American, was dismissed form the USDA on Monday after a video clip went viral in which she appeared to admit withholding benefits from a white farmer because of his race.

The incident has become a political embarrassment to the White House.

"He [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.

“I've told my team, and I told my agencies that we have to make sure that we're focusing on doing the right thing instead of what looks to be politically necessary at that very moment,” he said in the interview.

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[The story above is in stark contrast, however, to one that ran on Wednesday: ]

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday he will reconsider the department's decision to oust a black employee over racially tinged remarks after learning more about what she said.

Vilsack issued a short statement early Wednesday morning..

"I am of course willing and will conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts to ensure to the American people we are providing services in a fair and equitable manner," Vilsack said.

The Obama administration's move to reconsider her employment was an absolute reversal from hours earlier, when a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said President Barack Obama had been briefed on Sherrod's resignation after the fact and stood by the Agriculture Department's handling of it.

In his original statement on the matter Tuesday morning, Vilsack said he had accepted Sherrod's resignation and stressed that the department had "zero tolerance for discrimination." Later in the day, after Sherrod spoke to the media about the intention of her comments, Vilsack sent out a second statement that said the controversy surrounding Sherrod's comments could, rightly or wrongly, cause people to question her decisions as a federal employee and lead to lingering doubts about civil rights at the agency, which has a troubled history of discrimination.

Sherrod said officials showed no interest in listening to her explanation when she was asked to resign. She said she was on the road Monday when USDA deputy undersecretary Cheryl Cook called her and told her to pull over and submit her resignation on her Blackberry because the White House wanted her out.

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