Bob Herbert On Shirley Sherrod: Obama Running From Race Issue

New York Times:

The Shirley Sherrod story tells us so much about ourselves, and none of it is pretty. The most obvious and shameful fact is that the Obama administration, which runs from race issues the way thoroughbreds bolt from the starting gate, did not offer this woman anything resembling fair or respectful treatment before firing and publicly humiliating her.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[bmike]

02:09 PM on 07/26/2010

Weak story for the Times

[aofh]

06:00 PM on 07/24/2010

Perhaps there is a lesson in this episode for Tom Vilsack and others in this administration about what it means to be black or any minority in America. The rush to judgement came back to bite Vilsack quickly, and he (and others in the Administration) appears to have learned a lesson. We'll see. I can't say the same for O'Reilly, his apology is about the full tape not validating his prejudice not that his prejudice is invalid.

BTW, How is it that Fox is claiming it is not responsible for this mess because Sherrod had "resigned" before they aired the edited tape? Didn't they bring up the issue to the USDA or WH as part of their vetting the story? More disingenuousness from the FOX.

[Tanyars5]

12:38 PM on 07/24/2010

Brietbart is being covered by his friends in the media. Don't believe the hype. The meida is cultprit.

[Kya Nite]

01:15 PM on 07/24/2010

I just came from the top story on the main page which is also a Shirley Sherrod story and Brietbart is not mentioned there, he is called "a blogger who posted the comments".

It's shameful!

[leftbrnrightbrn]

12:24 PM on 07/24/2010

Bob Herbert: Obama is a very intelligent man. A genius, according to some. Part of being that super smart is the ability to accurately "read the tea leaves," as they say. Obama sees right now that the "progressive" racist plot (all white people [especially white males] bad, everyone else good) has played out. Mass media has ruined that plan. And - and here's the sticky part - Obama sees that it's going to get worse as time goes by. Mr. Herbert, you're a good proletarian, let the Master work it out. It's the Democrat's only hope, believe it or not.

[dancucich]

03:15 AM on 07/25/2010

"Obama is a very intelligent man. A genius, according to some. "
-----------------------------------------------------
:))

[Tanyars5]

12:09 PM on 07/24/2010

The media is so interested in race and race relations. Where are their stories investigating the institutionalized racism that exist in this country? How about a story on the Prison industrial complex that exists in this country? How about a story about the lack of BLACKS on cable TV ?
PBO is not a god or a jeanie. He cannot solve all the issues that have plagued this country for centuries.
btw what did the shrub do about race relations in this country?

[Kya Nite]

01:19 PM on 07/24/2010

The media is interested in refocusing the attention away from any accomplishments made by this Administration.

CNN has an article on their website titled - Sherrod fallout twists White House message from rah-rah to race

It was supposed to be a good week for the White House. President Obama would celebrate the passage of Wall Street reform, and Democrats would move toward the midterms with some wind at their backs.

But on a day the president signed the landmark legislation, the narrative from the White House was more contrite than laudatory.

[hrc04]

12:28 PM on 07/26/2010

The media is not interested in race and race relations, they're interested in breathlessly hyping controversial stories about race.

[bebecca]

11:54 AM on 07/24/2010

I think President Obama realizes that racism is a toxic subject in this country and he does not want to be seen as favoring African Americans-as many rightwingers promised he would- in any sense so he bends over backwards to show the country that there is no favortism coming from him or his office. It is a very sad way of conducting himself because it completely ignores a very dangerous problem. I admit that it is a real problem for him but he has completely taken the wrong path.

[PhDiva]

11:13 AM on 07/24/2010

I am African American, and I was stunned and heartbroken when this story emerged. I'm particularly hurt by the actions of the NAACP. I agree with Herbert's claims. However, I do think Herbert needed to hold Breitbart specifically accountable for his role in this. Instead, he never even mentions the name of the website that started the controversy.

I would also like people to talk about the sexism involved in this rush to judgement against a black woman. Would this have happened in this way to a black man?

[Msohio]

10:54 AM on 07/24/2010

Bob Herbert---As a minority yourself, why don't you get a dialogue going to address the race issue. You seem to have a forum. The President can't get anything done without it jumping to race. If he associated race with everything, you would call him out on that. He knew that he was black before he sat in the chair. Now, let's allow him to fill it by undoing the catastrophe left by Bush, Cheney, Rove, Matalin, Hughes, Rice, Rumsfeld and the rest of the do nothing right side of the aisle. We can't get this economy rolling, most important for everybody, until we get out of these 2 wars. Let's help the Prez out by coming up with credible solutions, instead of more criticism.

[1088]

10:42 AM on 07/24/2010

Now it's President Obama fault, and nothing on the true persons that started the lie!