Of Dopes and Ropes
It occurs to me that the Shirley Sherrod business has turned out rather well for the Obama Administration and the liberal side of the political spectrum. Breitbart has been revealed as a mendacious thug and the conservative media is divided over whether to admit that or not – and the one thing the conservative media never wants to be is divided.
But the only reason it worked out so well for the good guys in this case is that Vilsack and Obama made the completely unjustified move of firing Shirley Sherrod in the first place without gathering the minimal evidence necessary to justify such action.
Think about it. If Sherrod had been kept on, been interviewed, explained the situation to her supervisor, and that information made its way up the chain of command until Obama’s press secretary told everybody that her remarks were “taken out of context” – well, what do you think the trajectory of this news story would have been?
At best, the world would have just moved on – and the “Obama is a racist” meme would have gotten an additional push. Most likely the story would shift seamlessly to how Obama would have fired a white person accused of racism on the spot, so even though Sherrod was not guilty of the charges the Administration’s reaction would prove it was racist. It’s even possible that we’d be talking about two “versions” or “interpretations” of the event, and people would feel totally free to continue to believe that Breitbart’s original take on Sherrod was the correct “interpretation” of her speech. And she’d never be fully cleared of the taint of racism.
But because Vilsack fired her for no good reason, she’s an innocent victim, and the story is about Breitbart. Sherrod gets her job back and nobody thinks ill of her, and the Administration winds up being criticized from the center for not standing up to the right. Which, I suspect, is just where Obama would like to be.
Interesting incentive structure, that.
Noah,
Which “good guys” are you referring to when you say “it [the Shirley Sherrod business] worked out so well for the good guys”?
— Arminius · Jul 22, 06:19 PM · #
I think he means the ones who didn’t try to frame a woman with patently false charges of racism.
— John Schwenkler · Jul 22, 06:28 PM · #
“The Obama as a racist meme would have gotten an additional push.” With whom, and with what consequences? That meme is so marginal that Glenn Beck was uncomfortable uttering it, and if memory serves apologized for doing so. I can’t see that the Shirley Sherrod story would be regarded as evidence for the thesis by anyone not predisposed to see things that way.
The real problem this episode revealed is not Obama’s refusal to “stand up to the right,” but his obsession with the right, revealed both when he stands up to them (the Fox News wars) and when he cowers to them, as in this instance. If Obama believes that being pressured to go after the right is a good thing for him, that is only another instance of the same flawed thinking. There are probably tens of millions of Americans who don’t know who Andrew Breitbart is, but some of them think a little bit less of Obama in light of this episode. It isn’t catastrophic, but it is far from helping him.
— Aaron · Jul 22, 06:33 PM · #
Was Obama “lucky?” Or does God have a plan for him?
— cw · Jul 22, 08:38 PM · #
The Administration’s actions were precipitous, political and ill-conceived. Can’t see how that helps Obama.
Breitbart’s an ass, of course.
— KVS · Jul 22, 08:46 PM · #
The resolution didn’t even mention Williams, just unprovable assertions, much like the way Sharpton hit the big time
— ian cormac · Jul 22, 09:47 PM · #
That’s an interesting take, except that it’s not clear to me that everyone is pointing angrily at Breitbart. Are mainstream media outlets going to treat his future “scoops” as suspect? If not, and I think “not” is correct here, then this was basically a lot of high quality publicity for him. I suppose it could have been a lot worse for the White House, but Breitbart got a boost and the incentive to pull this sort of thing again in a few months.
— ACLS · Jul 23, 07:25 AM · #
A slowly-escalating freak-out on Fox News and Pajamas about the racist Obama regime.
I think the Obama administration is properly hypersensitive about allegations of racism / racial favortism, because they are potentially catastrophically damaging. They are immune from logic and correction (look how many already believe that the Justice Department has an explicit policy of not prosecuting black men).
That Fox has evidently decided to escalate this tactic three months before the election suggests its potential power (over 50 stories about the New Black Panther Party in the last month or so). And that the administration is so quick to react (even preemptively) in such circumstances (e.g. Van Jones, its lack of defense for ACORN, the lightning-fast resignation of Sherrod) emphasizes how potentially devastating it views such allegations.
As nasty as things were before, I think we’ve entered a truly nasty phase of the partisan battle…
— Scrooge McDuck · Jul 23, 04:16 PM · #
Glenn Beck was uncomfortable uttering it [the ‘Obama is a racist meme’]
What planet are you on?! He practically invented it with his accusation of a deep seated hatred for white people and white culture
— Derek Scruggs · Jul 24, 01:05 AM · #
good
— durable medical equipment · Jul 27, 07:12 AM · #