Shirley Sherrod got her phone call from President Obama. I’m not quite sure why she was so eager to speak to him… she did not seem to hold him accountable for her recent predicament and, in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Sherrod stated that she did not want an apology from him or indeed expect one, given his position as President. Ms Sherrod has learned one thing – Obama only apologizes when overseas. Barack Obama had no part in this affair, although the fallout has come back to sting him in the tail. A good leader is one that takes responsibility for the actions of his team. In that respect, he should have apologized for the hasty decision of his Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack.
The amount of embarrassment caused to the Obama administration could be gauged by the obvious discomfort of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said that Mr Gibbs’ new shoes were pinching, as he shifted awkwardly behind his lectern.
This whole mess was created by the Department of Agriculture, the NAACP and one or more members of the White House staff. Shirley Sherrod seemed convinced that her termination orders were issued by someone in the White House. It smacks of panic at the prospect of another race-related media attack on the administration. As usual, the liberals are trying to distract the public from their own failings by trying to pin the whole, sorry state of affairs on conservatives. While it may be true that the original video was posted by Andrew Breitbart, to openly accuse him of racism and a desire to return to the days of slavery is unwarranted. Perhaps the CNN video was not shown in its entirety, causing the message to be misconstrued also?
By her own confession, Shirley Sherrod had not given the white farmer “the full force of what [she] could do”. A later part of her speech, omitted in the original video posting, goes on to explain that “working with [the farmer] made me see that it’s really about those who have versus those who have not. They could be black. They could be white. They could be Hispanic”. This does not detract from the fact that, initially, she had little inspiration to help a white farmer. It reminds me a little of someone who was once a Klansman and later regretted the fact. Of course, being a Democrat, his expression of guilt absolved him.
The most ridiculous part of this fiasco is the left stream media’s attempt to apportion blame to Fox News, implying that their coverage of the speech instigated Sherrod’s dismissal. A number of other network and cable stations covered the item before FNC gave it any airtime. While the video was on their website, it was also on YouTube. Naturally, YouTube is not regarded as a threat by the liberals. It’s owned by Google. Google and the White House?… well, you can draw your own conclusions.
It is fairly obvious that the left are targeting Andrew Breitbart, Fox News and the Tea Party Movement in an attempt to save what remains of their unpopular, discredited government. They know that they are not afraid to confront their accusations head-on, as proved when Breitbart offered $100,000 for evidence of the racist attack by the Tea Party.
To use race as a political tool is reprehensible. To accuse those who are innocent of racism is abhorrent. Those who use these tactics as a last-ditch attempt to save themselves from defeat should think about the potential results of their actions, for they are the ones who could turn back the clock and recreate mistrust between black and white.
The fact that Barack Obama is black is immaterial to the Tea Party movement. The fact that he is steering the country to socialism, economic and social destruction is relevant. We will oppose anyone that does not respect the Constitution and threatens the very fabric of American society – regardless of color. That is equality!
(Editor Dee is in for Skip today)
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