President Obama Says Vilsack Jumped the Gun on Shirley Sherrod

President Obama recently spoke with ABC News and some other media outlets about the case of Shirley Sherrod, the woman who was dismissed after a doctored video surfaced to make it appear as if she made racist statements. It turned out that the video evidence had been significantly altered, and Sherrod wasn't being racist after all.

Obama has finally admitted what the rest of the country already knew: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack made a mistake that needed to be corrected.

"He 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 Elisabeth Leamy on 'Good Morning America.'

The president apologized to Sherrod personally. He also said that he is instructing his team to learn from the incident.

"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. We have to take our time and think these issues through," Obama told Leamy.

Sherrod has been reportedly offered a new and improved position within the USDA. She has yet to accept, but Obama's conversation gesture is a step in the right direction, primarily because he was getting criticism for being silent on matters related to race.

I received a call on this issue from CNN last night, which we are set to discuss on Friday morning at 7:40 a.m. My position on the issue is that President Obama made a bold move by directly addressing the dramatic injustice that was issued toward Sherrod. I also stand with Rep. Barbara Lee, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, when it comes to making sure that this opens the door to a national dialogue on race.

Sherrod has handled the situation with a tremendous amount of courage and dignity. I love the way she has transformed this issue into the teachable moment that the president promised but is not in a position to deliver. Knowing that her father was killed by whites in her community provides perspective on the fortitude with which she has confronted race relations on a broader scale. I congratulate her for making the best of an initially terrifying situation.

President Obama was stuck in a catch-22 on the firing of Shirley Sherrod. The issue of race has been the serpent in his political soup. The Henry Louis Gates debacle began right during his biggest conference on health care reform, distracting media attention for a week and causing him to lose a great deal of white support. That was also the seminal moment when the Tea Party Movement began to gain momentum and Obama started to become identified by the right as a "radical black man" (which he is not).

The Sherrod case hit smack dab in the middle of the Obama administration's celebrations on financial reform. I can't help but wonder if any of this is deliberate, since there are some who have no interest in seeing the president in a position to celebrate any of his achievements.

Making matters even more difficult for President Obama is that his mistake on the Gates situation put him in a tight spot with Sherrod. Although he was ill-advised to be involved with the Gates case, he chose to do so. Well, this decision implies that when any other significant racial controversy occurs of equal or greater magnitude than Gates (which almost every other incident is), Obama is going to be expected to respond. Therefore, if he'd not gotten involved with the firing of Shirley Sherrod, he would have been ridiculed as being too weak on race, and both the political left and the right wing would have tried to eat him alive.

Obama made the right decision on this one. Good job, Mr. President.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.