Pres. Obama Says “Media Culture” Forced “Jumping To Conclusions” On Sherrod

Pres. Barack Obama sat down with ABC’s Good Morning America Consumer Correspondent Elisabeth Leamy for a wide-ranging interview about the economy, financial reform and more.

But the key takeaway was his comments on the story of the week – Shirley Sherrod.

Pres. Obama spoke about Sec. of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and his rush to judgment. “He jumped the gun, partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog and everybody scrambles,” he said.

It’s an interesting admission about the power of the web and new media – and certainly gives Andrew Breitbart even more to brag about. Also, no mention by the President of Fox News.

Later, more from Pres. Obama:

If there’s a lesson to be drawn from this episode it’s that, rather than us jumping to conclusions, pointing fingers at each other, we should all look inward and try to examine what’s in our own hearts, and as a consequence we will continue to make progress.

Here’s the Sherrod part of the interview:

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