President Obama: Time To Man-Up & Rehire Shirley Sherrod. And Apologize.
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Mr. President,
You screwed up. Secretary Vilsack may have been the one who executed the decision, but the buck stops at your desk. Cabinet secretaries don’t work in a vacuum. Even if you were never consulted on a decision, the decisions 
they make are done with the full imprint of your office. The decision to fire Shirley Sherrod was a mistake, and it happened with your authority.
The clear mistake made was believing the lies and presentation of serial liar Andrew Breitbart and his allies at Fox News Channel. Bluntly, this was stupid. You should know better. The right wing is built on a foundation of lies and deception. If a figure on the right is speaking, it’s safe to assume that they are not telling the truth. I understand your belief in bipartisanship and reaching across the aisle, and I even support it (within reason) but especially when it comes to right-wing media figures, it is a fools errand of the worst sort for you or your cabinet to have invested anything in their words.
This was wrong, sir. This video and your actions smeared a public servant’s name. Shirley Sherrod is the kind of person whose service deserves reward, not to have her name dragged through the right wing mud with the aid of the highest office in the land.
The only honorable thing for your administration to do is to offer Ms. Sherrod her job back (I doubt she would take it under the circumstances, but she deserves for an offer to be made) and an apology from Secretary Vilsack and yourself.
If these steps aren’t taken, at best we’ll have to assume that the right wing media is now the final voice on who can and cannot serve in our government, based on falsified evidence that smears their name. When we voted for you, it was most certainly not a vote to give Andrew Breitbart hiring and firing power in our government.
This mistake lies at your feet. Enemies of the presidency and the American government have been enabled, while faithful public servants have been attacked. Please remedy this problem, quickly.
Oliver Willis
45 Responses to “President Obama: Time To Man-Up & Rehire Shirley Sherrod. And Apologize.”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
Oliver – thank you for voicing this so cogently. I value your strong position on this. I only hope and pray that they hear our cries for justice and respond accordingly. I will consider it President Obama’s personal failure if it does not happen.
Excellent
As soon as the White House accepted Van Jones’s resignation the floodgates were opened, and all is linked to a stupid attempt at keeping the door open for bi-partizanship with people who from day one set out their agenda, destroy this present administration.
President Obama may have surrounded himself with intellegent people but the sad fact is, these guys are not up to the task of taking on the republican media machine and their skills at ratfcuking.
These are supposed to be Chicago politicians who know how to fight dirty when it is needed.
How does the saying go again?
“They bring a knife, you bring a gun.
They put one of yours in the hospital, you put one of theirs in the morgue.”
With these bunch of bed wetters its more like “They bring a knife, you bring them a coffee.”
Sad and pathetic.
If Obama does not hire back Shirley Sherrod and apologize then it may be time to protest against him. We sat back and allowed this administration to throw ACORN under the bus without checking all the facts and now this. If they are this afraid of Fox news and the right wing blogs then they will totally useless going forward! MAN UP is right!
Has anyone notice that most of all the people Fox News has go after and help to get fired have been Black…they are targeting his African American workers to create a racially charged narrative.
The President should grow a set of balls and take out fixnews..glen beck…orally…klannity…and all the idiots on fix n friends…shepherd smith should go to a different network and wat the hell is allen colmes still doing on fixnews….as for the conservative blogger tht piece of s*it should rott for trying to take out the NAACP thru the heavily edited video ..the full video should of been displayed….and rush limbaugh should go back on his prescription meds and maybe take extra pills so he can shut up …his comments about the yankees owner..calling him a cracker is appauling …yet no one complains about limabugh like everyone did about don imus and his nappy heady hoes situation lol
Tonight or tomorrow, make sure you write the White House and the USDA. She deserves her job back and a fat apology.
Marco,
Great suggestion, already did this afternoon.
agsec@usda.gov
Whitehouse.gov
Alan Simpson wasn’t fired for this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTZ7BN22vtM
It’s a shame that all the hard work this woman did for decades has been reduced to an inaccurately edited two minute sound bite. Shouldn’t the media be held liable for “yellow journalism”? She’ll probably never get her job back. And certainly will never get her good reputation. She reached her position at the USDA because she earned it through dedication and impartiality (and by the way the statement in question was before she ever joined the USDA, and the Spooner family admitted she went above and beyond to help them). Given this country’s history I doubt there’s anyone in the United States who has never had a biased thought, or made a biased statement. But its what we do with the emotion resulting from being wronged or witnessing injustices, that makes us grow as human beings. Recently one Congressman passed away who used to hold a position of authority in the KKK. But he changed and wound up championing civil rights. Upon his death people focused on what he became, not what he was. And no one forced him to resign from Congress because of his past. Mrs. Sherrod was in no way that extreme but the point is that she chose to put her past experiences to a positive use, and encouraged others to do the same. Shame on everyone who jumped to assumptions without all the facts, and double shame on those who are too cowardly to admit their mistake and apologize. And now her life is ruined, her good name has been dragged through the mud, and she is probably pained at heart from being misunderstood and wrongly tarnished by millions of people. That probably hurts more than being fired. Its a slap in the face and a stab in the back at the same time. Mrs. Sherrod, you will probably never see this message, but my heart goes out to you. I understand what point you were trying to make, and thank you for having the courage to be honest and trying to make everyone get along better.
What ukobserver said. The cat’s out of the bag now. Re-instating Ms. Sherrod would be the just thing to do, but from a PR-standpoint it would be “OBAMA REINSTATES RACIST GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL.” Because it’s clear now that Obama hasn’t learned to play hardball with the FOX/Republican puke funnel.
I thought Rahm was supposed to be a hard-ass? Turns out he’s both an idiot and a patsy.
“Sad and pathetic.”
Yup. Obama’s fucked up royally on this one and with November approaching this is the “easiest” period he’s going to have.
I would like to awake on a world such as you describe… alas, I don’t get to go to the world I’d like, rather, I get to go to the world we have (with no apology for Rummy).
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128659806
Oliver, you need to relax and take a deep breath. I’m getting quite sick of the Left’s “pre-freakouts”. Why don’t we, I don’t know…WAIT to see what the President does? That’s a novel idea.
Yes, please do this!
We’re just a week or so away from August, and that means it’s time for the annual Shark-Attack/Cindy-Sheehan/Cops-Acting-Stupidly month where the smallest minutia of a story becomes all anyone can talk about (because nothing else is going on.)
Spending an entire month talking about the racism threshhold that is allowed under the Obama Administration == manna from Heaven.
Can we somehow dupe Obama into becoming the source of his own distraction? Yes, we can!!!
SF, the tape was edited to create a lie, and a racist one at that. Those who pushed it are racist liars. You too are a racist liar.
You would think, SF, that you’d be morally outraged that the right used a purposely dishonest video to hound a woman out of her job. Instead you seem to be vaguely proud of it and celebrate it. It is sort of a reminder of the moral depravity we see that’s pretty consist over on the right side of the aisle. I’d go so far as to say that most people you hear repeating right wing talking points have a moral emptiness about them: it tends to be encouraged in their culture. Which is fine, people should be free to embrace whatever culture value system they choose, except that it is hurting the rest of the country to promote this sort of depravity, and they become the sort of people who end up abusing their friends and relatives.
What we see here isn’t simply a political problem, it’s a moral/cultural problem. Not only was this Sherrod thing ridiculous, but it reflects the sort of behavior that people like SaveFarris considered acceptable in his daily life. Instead of a cause for outrage, for SaveFarris, it’s a cause for celebration. It’s what he does. It’s who he is, and it’s what his right-wing social circle encourages him to be like.
There’s really no political solution to what is, essentially, a spiritual problem for the people like Breitbard, SaveFarris and the instinctive cowardice of people like Vilsack.
Those talking points sound JournoList approved!
I’m not “vaguely pround and celebratory” of anything. I’m pretty much ambivalent on the issue of whether this one person keeps their job, except to note that both her, the USDA, and the NAACP initially went into massive damage control, which leads one to suspect there’s more to this story.
Which is why calling Obama to re-instate this woman is such a bad political move for him to make. All it does is re-ignite the fire and keep the nation talking about this. It’s a fight Obama can’t win (If he doesn’t reinstate her, he’s wasted everyones time all the while looking like an indecisive rookie who can’t lead. If he does, he shows he’s beholden to his fringe and looks like a flip-flopping “vote present” empty suit who can’t lead.)
And yet his backers are telling him to fight it anyway. Why?
PS: If you’re looking for moral depravity & emptiness, as well as a spiritual problem, you might want to take the moat out of your own eye, theoretically speaking of course.
Once again, SF, you have a problem generating any sort of instinct for moral condemnation against the execrable behavior of the right and the media, because ultimately it’s the sort of behavior that you consider “normal” in your deviant culture. This is the essential provlrmof the right: it is a morally and spiritually broken movement that corrupts and harm those associatedwith it: it is part of why your opinions have no credibility. You embrace the morally depraved movement, wrecking your capacity for judgment and justice. Andrew Breitbart is the model for behavior and honesty standards on the right, and it affects how they treat public servants, but also their friends and relatives.
Well said. Not only is Sherrod owed an apology, this incident is an excellent teaching moment: The anatomy of this smear should be fully and publicly examined.
It’s understandable that Obama would want to avoid race issues — the wingnuts have been attempting to portray him as the 2nd coming of Farrakhan since 2007. However, the administration has nothing to lose by exposing Breitbart as the racist shit-stirrer he is and Fox News as his enabler. This incident should be examined in the context of what happened with ACORN, whose supposed guilt was trumpeted to the heavens and whose subsequent vindication when almost unreported.
It’s not like Breitbart and Fox are going to stop race-baiting that no matter what Obama does anyway. Knuckling under only emboldens them. At least if Obama lays it all out for the American people, those who are fair-minded will have the facts. They aren’t going to get that from Fox and the gutless media.
There’s not much downside for Obama, since all the frothing Know-Nothings clamoring for his downfall/failure all voted for McCain anyway. The problem is, he caved quite visibly, and backtracking won’t help that much, so there’s not much UPside, either.
And SF, it’s ‘mote’ in one’s eye, not ‘moat’.
except to note that both her, the USDA, and the NAACP initially went into massive damage control, which leads one to suspect there’s more to this story.
ARCON went into massive damage control, too, and it turned out Breitbart Co. was making up shit then, too.
And yet his backers are telling him to fight it anyway. Why?
Because if he doesn’t, it encourages right-wing bullies like Breitbart to strike again.
Spending an entire month talking about the racism threshhold that is allowed under the Obama Administration == manna from Heaven.
You’ve got it all backwards, Save. As Marco said, this whole episode was based on a lie intended to spark racial resentment and anger. It was, in other words, a racist act done by a racist.
This has nothing to do with Obama.
It is, however, now the the gold standard litmus test going forward for the “racism threshold” of every fucking conservative troll who comments here. The test is very simple: If you don’t condemn Breitbart’s actions, you’re racist fucking scum.
So you’re now in the company of Dennis, Save, as a confirmed racist.
Congratulations, ashole.
I’m sorry, Save, that’s: asshole.
How about this; The White House not worry about whether there is an “upside” to re-instating Ms Sherrod and do it.
Because it is the right thing to do.
It strikes me that the problem with our elected representatives is that right and wrong are meaningless to them, as every action or inaction is measured by how it will be perceived and how that perception will “reflect on me”. Another variant of “what’s in it for me”. If this is truly the basis that our leaders use in their decision making, and I see no indication that it is not, then we, as a nation, are already fucked and just marking time till the end.
I, for one, would love to see this administration take an action without weighing how it will be spun by both friend and foe, but do it… and own it… because it is the right thing to do.
Because it’s the right thing to do. That’s all the reason needed. If you had a moral center, you would know it. But since you and your ilk are all about gamesmanship and “gotcha’s” you don’t get this. It must suck to be you farris.
Well said big pill.
How soon until Ms Sherrod starts getting death threats?
You guys wouldn’t know real racism if it slapped you in the face.
Save, I defy you to make any sense of your own comment. Please explain the logic of it all to us. Love to know WTF it is you think you think you’re saying.
It’s not like you to show concern for those less-well-off than the rest of society, SF, are you sure you’re feeling well?
Oh, new drinking game for Friday, you take a shot every time you read a ‘look over here’ comment like the above.
You guys wouldn’t know real racism if it slapped you in the face. – Save Farris
You might want to pull a Dennis and take a few days off before you embarrass yourself even further. We know you have no integrity already. You don’t have to keep proving it to us.
Actually, Save, the Bush AIDS initiative turned out, on closer examination, to collapse, as do all things Bush, into a disappointing narrative of cronyism and the advancement of God-bothering under a false flag.
But “You people wouldn’t know racism” is a wonder of self-mockery. Very nice!
I’m not surprise by the WH reaction because this is what they’ve been doing since coming into in office. Whenever the right wing and Faux News scream something the Obama Administration jumps.
They’ve already turned their backs on their base and are too afraid to stand up to these tricks that the right wing just love to throw at them.
It’s sad, I thought we voted for a strong leader that was willing to stand up to these types of tactics. Instead we got a leader so caught up on being bi-partisan and quick to judge those on his own side (without having all the facts).
Because it’s the right thing to do.
The problem is that SF has been morally conditioned by the right wing not to take this into consideration and not to react in this way. The moral imperatives of the issue have been browbeaten out of him when he made his bid for social and cultural acceptance by the right.
He has been conditioned to instinctively aidecwith and support the bullies. It is how the right damages its adherents, abd it is how the right purposely conditions its supporters to ensure they make good shock troops.
You guys wouldn’t know real racism if it slapped you in the face.
Do your links ever say what you claim they say?
If you don’t condemn Breitbart’s actions, you’re racist fucking scum.
The above is the unfortunate mindset of the left.
As for use of racism for political purposes, the left holds the top prize in using racism as a political bludgeon against their opponents. Obama supporters are worse than the average left winger as they didn’t hesitate to even attempt to cast Bill Clinton of all people of racism during the campaign in 2008.
As I said elsewhere, there is not a single criticism of Barack Obama that has not been framed by his supporters as something that isn’t racially motivated. If you opposed the stimulus it was because of race. If you opposed Eric Holder as AG it was because of race. If you opposed the healthcare plan it was because of race. The Tea Party Protests never would have happened even if the same policies were put into place by Hillary Clinton, because the Tea Party protests are all about “Hating a black man” as left wing starlet Janeane Garofalo put it (with Keith Olbermann nodding like and drooling along).
Having the debate about it is pointless because this is usually how it goes:
Left: Opposition to Obama’s health care reform plan is racist!
Right: Huh? That’s absurd. You’re claiming the opposition is just based on race?
Left: Here’s an image of some guy holding a picture of Obama looking like a witch doctor with a bone through his nose and here’s some racist emails a Congressman has been getting!
Right: Ok, that’s some people. How does this support your original statement?
Left: Oh fine. Go ahead and keep pretending that there isn’t opposition to HCR that isn’t racist.
Right: Nobody was saying racism didn’t exist at all, but you made a blanket statement without qualifiers that says opposition is racist. Period.
This is how it goes all the time.
This entire spectacle is precisely what it looks like when the left and Democrats use the cry of “racism” to smear Republicans and conservatives. This story has made such big news largely because for the first time, the shoe was on the other foot. Conservatives routinely have to deal with bullshit allegations of racism by Democrats and liberals. They do it ALL THE TIME. Why? Because IT WORKS.
There’s nothing in America to be called right now than to be called a racist. We can look to the different treatment given to Mel Gibson vis a vis Roman Polanksi. Gibson is an absolute pariah in Hollywood circles right now (and with good reason if those tapes are accurate), but people are rejoicing that a convicted pederast is free to continue making films and actors will line up to join him and he’ll continue getting standing ovations during Oscar ceremonies. I am not referencing anybody here with regard to Polanski (before somebody tries to change the subject) but just the overall reaction in the media and in Hollywood.
As for the accusations of racism, we witnessed how easily liberals will employ the use of saying it with the Journolist reveal about how to respond to the Reverend Wright issue. Spencer Ackerman specifically suggested picking out names and just lobbing the accusation of racism at them. The only reason there was disagreement was because of what it might do strategically. They cared not a whit that the accusations would come without merit.
Ms. Sherrod should get her job back right away. She was unfairly misrepresented in order to play a game of “gotcha” with the NAACP.
Hopefully what comes out of this is some sort of understanding of just how inflammatory accusations of racism are and people won’t be so quick to just hurl such accusations (and stop using BLANKET accusations meant for some) without adequate evidence.
This entire spectacle is precisely what it looks like when the left and Democrats use the cry of “racism” to smear Republicans and conservatives.
Ah yes. It’s those evil liberals who forced Andrew Breitbart to lie about Sherrod.
If only the NAACP hadn’t condemned the real and readily verifiable racist elements in the Tea Party, Breitbart wouldn’t have had to lie and smear an innocent woman.
It’s just a shame that the left doesn’t understand that when it calls racists racists, it’s only forcing otherwise good conservatives to lie in response.
Oh when will they learn.
Jay, you’re an idiot.
The anatomy of this smear should be fully and publicly examined.
Betty, it HAS been “fully and publicly examined,” time and time and time again, most notably by OW’s boss, Media Matters’ David Brock (in his book “The Republican Noise Machine”). This is a major part of the right’s playbook. They use it over and over, and the Democratic pink tutu squad fall for it over and over.
Why oh why does it take a wrong to realize that Politicians must find out THE FACTS first before they throw their own members overboard. Disgraceful, I know she won’t but others would sue for wrongful dismissal.
The Englishman from Dallas
Quaker in a B: Do your links ever say what you claim they say [,SaveFarris]?
I thought we’d already conclusively demonstrated that they don’t. In fact, 99.9% of the time the dis-prove the point he’s trying to make.
The Tea Party Protests never would have happened even if the same policies were put into place by Hillary Clinton, because the Tea Party protests are all about “Hating a black man”
“Asked to volunteer what they don’t like about Mr. Obama, the top answer, offered by 19 percent of Tea Party supporters, was that they just don’t like him.”
Huh, wonder what that means?
*As an added bonus, apparently 18% of Teabaggers’ main goal is “All of them”. High-larious
So when racist Teabagging fucks like Jay participate in an _actual racist smear campaign_, it’s actually Dems who are racist.
Uh-huh.
Jay, you’re an idiot.
Classic Fafaroo response.
Totally pointless. Totally full of it. Totally dumb.
So when racist Teabagging fucks like Jay
Fafaroo’s Idiot-Twin Jaim pipes up.
Birds of a feather….
Jay’s fantasy Q&A:
“Left: Here’s an image of some guy holding a picture of Obama looking like a witch doctor with a bone through his nose and here’s some racist emails a Congressman has been getting!
Right: Ok, that’s some people…”
Yes, just some people.
Because it’s an image, as in one. Not several signs.
It’s not a bunch of racist emails. And racist emails were never sent by GOP staff or elected officials.
There’s no racist talk show hosts on the radio every single day saying blatantly racist things.
There’s no racist GOP congressman. Surely, not more than one.
I am pretty sure I heard just one person on the right ask “where’s the birth certificate?” Not several. Not for months on end.
Only one Tea Party organizer was expelled for racist writings.
And only one TV cable news network plays host to a variety of right wing race baiters on a daily basis.
Actually, that last one is correct. I am sure you’re saying “See, I was right” just about now, huh Jay?
As I said elsewhere, there is not a single criticism of Barack Obama that has not been framed by his supporters as something that isn’t racially motivated.
All and only racism? Nothing about all the tribalism, selfishness, arrogance, chauvinism, self-righteousness, corruption, stupidity, machiavellianism, neposism, anti-christian morals, plutocracy, rationalization, projection, psychosis, power and control sociopathy and latency issues dominant in wingnuttia? What have those things ever done to you?