The Hill News

In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, President Obama said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had acted prematurely in firing Shirley Sherrod.

Sherrod, who is African-American, was dismissed form the USDA on Monday after a video clip went viral in which she appeared to admit withholding benefits from a white farmer because of his race.

The incident has become a political embarrassment to the White House.

"He [Vilsack] jumped the gun, partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog, and everybody scrambles," Obama told ABC.

The president apologized to Sherrod by telephone on Thursday.

“I've told my team, and I told my agencies that we have to make sure that we're focusing on doing the right thing instead of what looks to be politically necessary at that very moment. We have to take our time and, and think these issues through,” he said in the interview. 

Vilsack has since offered Sherrod a new job with the agency.