Sherrod as Lightning Rod

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Shirley Sherrod as Lightning Rod

Who would think that a 30-minute preach to the choir could catalyze a cataclysmic confrontation between government and media?

Yet that’s exactly what happened when Department of Agriculture representative Shirley Sherrod took to a NAACP podium to discuss her personal experience with racial prejudice. It was a rather touching and soothing account of how her initial prejudice against a white man was mellowed by an understanding of the real, as opposed to racial, differences that divide.

Parts of the presentation somehow found their way to Andrew Breitbart, who published the pre-enlightenment portions on his website. What has escaped much media attention is that the presentation was accompanied by the statement, “Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help." Even NAACP head Ben Jealous acknowledged from the beginning that, ". . . she went on to explain in the story that she ultimately realized her mistake."

Never mind. In these promised days of post-racialism, the mere appearance, rather than the reality, of racism, will suffice. Therefore, in a rare moment of instantaneous accord, FOX News and the NAACP demanded the scalp of Sherrod, and it was promptly delivered by the Obama administration, appearing in the rather drab garb of Tom Villsack, Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture, Sherrod’s penultimate boss.

Then, someone took the time to review not only the entire speech--after all, it’s a lot easier than reading multi-thousand page congressional legislation of late—but also the above qualifications from Breitbart and Jealous. Realizing that Sherrod had been treated unfairly, apologies abounded, from FOX, from Villsack, and from Obama, a/k/a Gibbs.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this escapade is how the President of the United States adopted a course of action based not on the certainty, but rather the possibility of unfavorable coverage on the Glenn Beck show/program. We have only Ms. Sherrod’s own words to make this believable.

What lies ahead? My guess is that O’Reilly will relentlessly pursue an examination of every nook and cranny of Sherrod’s career in an effort to justify his admittedly premature conclusion that she is in fact an advocate of reverse discrimination at best and a racist at worst. I also guess that Ms. Sherrod will totally reject bland and boring reinstatement and instead ponder whether her more promising future lies in the realm of litigation—an arena hardly unknown to her—or rather by pushing for another heady beer garden photo-op—a venue hardly unknown to Obama.