Even More Than Just Cowardice

The whole video:

So far in this entire 24 hour saga now, we have just one person who has given a public apology to Shirley Sherrod.

Ben Jealous is the only individual to display needed penitence to the now former prominent Agriculture Department official. And the NAACP leader only did offered up that apology on his Twitter page after getting slammed throughout the day on there, as well as not including the apology in the letter condemning Andrew Freightfart and the right wing nutcases, for not coming sooner after knee jerk chastising he placed on Sherrod last night.

No one else from the "Condemn her quick and swift" crowd has yet to offer a full "I am sorry" to Ms. Sherrod.

Not the NAACP as a whole. Not the Obama Administration, Tom Vilsack, Cheryl Cook. Not Roland Martin. Not anyone besides Jealous' with his one lonely tweet.

In the aftermath of this utter mess of a situation, Janelle Bouie re-brought up Eric Holder's "discussion on race and how we are a nation of cowards" on it, which was further picked up by his esteemed American Prospect friend and mentor (though Adam and Janelle can better explain their relationship way more than I can) Adam Serwer.

Serwer picked up from Bouie's message and rightly said this about the White House:
For all the left's mocking of Andrew Breitbart, in the post-ACORN era the Obama administration seems to have taken a reflexive supine position on any selectively edited "bombshell" stories he happens to produce.
Serwer continues on with the cowardly theme of Bouie all the way to the end in his post.

But the story of trepidation from the White House and others is more than just a paradigm about this nation's inability to fully deal with race. Rather, this is more about this country's inability for many to just say simply "Sorry, I screw up, I screwed up royally."

Of course, we can say the likes of Freightfart and Fixed Propaganda don't really want to have an honest discussion on race, just like a refusal to have an honest discussion on being, well, honest.

That cannot be said about the Obama Administration, or Roland Martin, or the NAACP. They have dealt with and discuss race countless number of times, where calling them cowards about it isn't the fully correct label.

Instead, this sad episode is the latest great evidence for our sick inability to just say "We blew it."

With the full video out, and the defense from the Spooner family for Sherrod hours ago, we are still left with just Jealous remorseful sentiments*.

Mark Williams insanity last week now has a nice partner to go along with it in our refusal to come to grips with our apparent mistakes.

It's not about a pusillanimous nature with those we expect better from to rise to the occasion though. Instead, it is just a pure unwillingness to accept instant culpability for wrong actions.

Updated: *Jealous has just said on Rachel Maddow's show that the NAACP has made a mistake. That's better and a sign of improvement, especially with the White House now saying they are "reviewing" Sherrod's situation.

She needs to be simply rehired, point blank.

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