By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – Flooded with apologies from everywhere, Shirley Sherrod got the biggest “I’m sorry” of all Thursday – from a contrite President Barack Obama, who personally appealed to the ousted worker to come back.
Sherrod, who was forced to resign on Monday because of racial comments she made at an NAACP gathering, was asked by Obama to rejoin the federal government and transform “this misfortune” into a chance to use her life experiences to help people, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
Obama had stayed out of the public brouhaha that followed Sherrod’s ouster from the Agriculture Department after a conservative blog posted a clip of the black woman’s comments and portrayed her as racist. Once it became clear that the speech in question was advocating racial reconciliation, not racism, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack apologized to her and offered her a new job Wednesday. Gibbs also apologized publicly “for the entire administration.”