Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is dithering, waffling and foot-dragging on what should be a no-brainer:
The immediate reinstatement of Shirley Sherrod to her post as the Agriculture Dept.’s director of rural development in Georgia. He wronged Sherrod, a dedicated public servant, by grossly overreacting to the phony, doctored and politically self-serving right-wing-connived hit tape of a speech that Sherrod gave to a local NAACP banquet back in March that purported to show her admitting to trashing a white farmer and then refusing to help him. Despite irrefutable proof that this was a lie, a blatant effort to hit back at the NAACP and civil rights leaders for putting the heat on Tea Party racism, and a grotesque sully of the name and reputation of a hard-working, efficient, and loyal government program administrator, the best Vilsack could say is that he’ll conduct a review to ensure that services are provided in a fair and equitable manner.
Look at the Coward
This is the worst kind of cowardice and bureaucratic cover-your-backside gibberish, and Vilsack knows it. If he had conducted the review in a fair and equitable manner before panicking and trying to appease the right-wing attack machine, Sherrod would still be on the job, and the issue would have quickly blown over.
In fact, even if Sherrod did what she was alleged to have done, there’s still a little thing called due process which requires an investigation, diligent fact-finding, and corroboration, a careful weighing of the factual evidence, and then giving the accused a chance to present her case before making a decision about her fate.
None of that happened.
Sherrod was summarily kicked to the curb, her name dragged through the media and public mud, and a sterling reputation as an official who did her job and won consistent high praise from the legions of farmers of all races she has aided during her years with the agency tainted.
Help Wanted: Fresh Supply of Guts
Now that we know if Vilsack doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to quickly and publicly person-up and right a colossal wrong, President Obama should.
He should order Vilsack to do the right thing and apologize to Sherrod and immediately reinstate her. This would do two things. It would remove the taint that the Obama administration nervously listened to the din from the conservative echo chamber about bogus black racism and made Sherrod the sacrificial lamb.
Can Obama Be Bullied?
Sherrod contended that she got calls from the White House demanding her resignation. The second thing is, it would send the message that the White House will not be bullied, intimidated, badgered and ultimately hit the panic and appeasement button every time the bogus shout is made that the administration is tilting toward minorities.
The Sherrod debacle was more than just a put-up job by the right. It was a textbook lesson of how organized, agenda-driven, right-wing ideologues will stop at absolutely nothing to shame, embarrass and vilify the Obama administration, using the one tried and true tactic it knows will inflame, race baiting.
They’ve honed that ploy to a fine art over the past four decades, and the Sherrod flap shows it still works magnificently.
Sherrod had the double misfortune. Not only was she targeted by conservatives for ouster. She was used by them as a pawn to hit back at the NAACP and civil rights organizations that have rightly put much heat to the GOP and Tea Party activists for their very real racism and perpetual race card play.
President Obama can undo the damage that they’ve done, and the cowardice of Vilsack in the face of their assault on Sherrod. He can order her reinstatement, with full apology for the wrong and hurt she’s suffered.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is “How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge” (Middle Passage Press).
Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/earlhutchinson
