Race, a Firing and a (Potential) Rehiring

Wow again. Now Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants to rehire Shirley Sherrod? For a civil rights post? The day after she was forced out of her job on the grounds of holding racist attitudes a couple of decades ago?

A couple of observations on today's turn of events:

• Vilsack says he made the decision to oust Sherrod on his own, without White House involvement. That just doesn't pass the smell test. How could Vilsack possibly take action in a highly charged case that was dominating the day's news cycle without consulting the White House? Answer: He couldn't.
• Here's White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: "We live in a culture [in which] things whip around, people want fast responses, [and] we want to give fast responses. One of the great lessons you take away from this is to ask all the questions first." So asking the right questions before you take action is a lesson that had to be learned at the highest levels of the administration yesterday?