ms. sherrod is owed an apology. >> couric: i'm katie couric. also tonight, small towns, huge salaries. outrage in california where the city manager makes nearly twice as much as the president of the united states. it's a reenactment, but investigators say this is what happened when a north korean torpedo struck a south korean warship. and he's no houdini, but he did turn a cell phone into a porsche. captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news world headquarters in new york, this is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric. >> couric: good evening, everyone. it was an extraordinary scene on national television today. the president's top spokesman admitting the administration had fired an official of the agriculture department for alleged racism without knowing all the facts, and then he offered her an apology. but it didn't stop there. the man who fired shirley sherrod, agriculture secretary tom vilsack, soon popped up on tv himself and offered her another job. all this while the nation watched her watch them. we begin

ms. sherrod must resign immediately. >> reporter: now, sherrod gets her reputation back and if she wantst gets a promotion. from washington, i'm steve handlesman for nbc bay area news. >> now, we should also note that the naacp initially also accused sherrod of race. but has now also issued an apology, however, the conservative blogger who took excerpts from that speech and posted them has not apologized. >> important points to make. >> mm-hmm. >>> ahead tonight, the comeback kid, the bay area high school student and standout who is now a warrior. >>> and catching ten and watching out. we head to the beach where there are signs posted about yes, jaws cruising the coastline. >>> and news about the oil spill, not in the gulf, but this china, and the incredible pictures showing a heroic rescue. >>> and sunshine in san jose, but you're going to need a jacket in july. look at that. 66 degrees right now it is breezy and cool around the bay area. but your 7-day forecast shows 90s s.spot lo asps. lookt that a when we come back right. w woman: did you bring the camera phone? man: i did. do you wa

ms. sherrod is owed an apology. i would do so on behalf of this administration. >> reporter: the about-face was about as quickly as the media firestorm that caused it. as conservative blogs and cable tv ran a video about usda agent shirley sherrod was talking about a farmer who needed her help. >> to help a white person. so, i didn't give him the full force of what i could do. >> reporter: based on the speech clip, vilsack's office asked for sherrod to resign. the secretary says, without pressure from the white house. but it turns out sherrod's speech continued with how she helped the farmer and still has his support today, more than 20 years later. >> i've come a long way. this shouldn't have happened. it took too long. but it makes me feel better that the apology is coming. >> reporter: after vilsack spoke to sherrod by phone, he visited the congressional black caucus, where members said shirley sherrod needs a place back in government. and shirley sherrod has a new job office from the usda. she says she needs som

ms. sherrod is owed an apology. a disservice was done for which we apologize. and on behalf of the administration, i offer our apologies. >> reporter: after initially standing by the agriculture secretary's decision to fire sherrod, the white house now acknowledges it was a rush to judgment. a usda official called sherrod monday afternoon in her car, asked her to pull over and resign by blackberry. this, after video surfaced online of sherrod making racially charged comments that turned out to be selectively edited. >> how did we get into -- how did we not ask the right? questions? how did you all not ask the right questions? how did other people not ask the right questions? >> reporter: watching the apologies as they were issued, live on cable tv, shirley sherrod herself later reacted. >> i'm just wondering how will my grandchildren look at this when they read about this in later years, and their grandmother being the first black person to be state director of rural development in georgia, was asked to resign by the first black president. >> reporter: as for an

ms. sherrod his apologies for the events of the last several days. gloria: inside the firestorm that put the media, the white house and the issue of race front and center. or was it just a bungled personnel matter? and in the post 9-11 era, has america's intelligence community gotten too big and unmanageable? covering these stories this week, john harwood of cnbc and "the new york times." naftali bendavid of "the wall street journal." michael duffy of "time" magazine. and dana priest of "the washington post." live from our nation's capital, this is "washington week with gwen ifill." produced in shorks with national -- in association with national journal. funding for "washington week" is provided by -- boeing. exxonmobil. the ethics in excellence in journalism foundation. the annenberg foundation. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live from washington, sitting in for gwen ifill this week, gloria borger of cnn. gloria: good evening. if you follow the economic

ms. sherrod still has questions she wants answered before she accepts the job offer that came from secretary vilsack. >>> we're also watching the gulf this morning. they are preparing to evacuate all ships ahead of what could become tropical storm bonnie. rough weather already forced bp to suspend drilling those relief wells on wednesday. you know, one of them was supposed to be finished in a couple of days. if this hits, it could set efforts back two weeks. sam is tracking i th >>> we begin wi shiey sod. the houn th we have her rean th she's going to joinere our studio. but first, jake tapper has the latest there at the white house. good morning, jake. >> reporter: good morning, robin. you know, you seldom see something like this where somebody claims they've been wronged, the white house adm she's offered a job, but the white house does seem very er to get this story be overnight, secretary of agriculture tom vilsack met with members of the congressional black caucus to discuss the circumstances which led to the ouster of agriculture department official shirley sherrod. it was vilsack's mo

ms. sherrod, thanks very much for your time this morning. >> thank you. >> boy. it sounds like she's going to need a call from the president, if they want her back. >> you heard the farmer himself, saying he would like her to have her job back. it's not the first time that something going viral has put a career in jeopardy. >> this whole conversation about race is so charged. the debate will continue in the next half hour. we're going to hear from this man. he posted the original excerpts from the video. >>> now, let's go to juju chang with the rest of the morning's news. >> good morning, george and robin. we turn to the threat in the gulf of mexico. it's a potential tropical storm heading toward the gulf, that could derail the ongoing efforts to plug that bp oil well for good. matt gutman is in the gulf. matt, what does it mean for the cleanup? good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, juju. the big concern is not necessarily the storm's strength, but its trajectory. it could be heading right here, for the gulf coast. that armada of ships over the spill sa

ms. sherrod to try to get a sense of the context here and that's a key word here. we live in an evolution that is missing sight of context. i went back. when he was defending and explaining some of the comments made by reverend wright, such a huge controversy, he took pains at that point to put that incident into a greater context about race in america. and yet in this case, the administration acted so quickly, when what was necessary here was some context. >> do they almost have to offer her her job back? >> i think it's going to be difficult not to, at this point, if they have a real reassessment of all the facts here. and certainly it's been indicated by white house officials and the agriculture department they're willing to do that. i've been told by senior administration officials, the president certainly supports going back and looking at all the facts here. so, look, as the president often bemoans, we're living in this 24-hour cable news cycle and he's often critical of that. they got caught up in that themselves here and perhaps judging too quickly and taki

ms. sherrod about the situation. the blogger is not apologizing and he says he's the victim.ut that as well. and breaking news from the gulf, instant commander thad allen announced that riggs and vessels working to stop will begin preparations tonight to move out of the gulf because the threat from tropical storm bonnie. we'll tell you what that means for the relief well efforts. those stories and a lot more at the top of the hour. >> larry: that's "ac 360" you'll live through another storm, anderson? >> it looks like it. >> larry: 10:00 eastern and 7:00 pacific. anderson cooper, if there are problems, he's there. what do you make of this whole shirley sherrod thing? >> a quick rush so judgment. sad. >> larry: taking a tape out of context? >> obviously, fed to us out of context. but you know, too quickly to rush to judgment, i think. >> larry: do you, over all these years, do you look at yourself, a successful man, do you look at as an underdog? >> no, i don't, really, no. i certainly am in areas of controversy, sometimes in the minority. but one follows one's heart and pursu

ms. sherrod, i was wondering if if you had any word on whether or not she would accept the job? >> that is a question for her. >> conventional wisdom is that the white house is trying to keep the focus on policing the documents. they're concerned with this breach of federal law, but are they concerned with evidence about civilian casualties, cooperation between terrorists? >> this did the president made in march 2009 understand the complicated aspects between but the these two countries. there is a historical relationship between the taliban and pakistani intel. a decent part of a ""rolling " article discusses the rules of engagement around civilian casualties within our own military -- a decent part of the "rolling stone" article talks about our military. but has been and what is known about our relationship and efforts in afghanistan and pakistan are not market in -- markedly changed. if you go back to march 2009, we are clearly taking steps to make progress in dealing with pakistan in the safe havens, with the civilian casualties. we on the that in efforts like this to win th

ms. sherrod's speech and particularly comments that she made that talks about this issue but also talks about the issue of class when it comes to race. let's list ton what she had to say. >> i couldn't say years ago i couldn't stand here saying what i'm saying, what i will say to you tonight. like i told you, god helped me to see that it is not just about black people, it's about poor people. and i've come a long ways. i knew that i couldn't live with hate, you know, as my mother has said to so many, if we had tried to live with hate in our hearts we would probably be dead now. but i have come to realize that we have to work together. and you know, it's sad that we don't have a room full of whites and blacks here tonight because we have to overcome the divisions that we have. we have to get to the point where, as has been said, race exists but it doesn't matter. we have to work just as hard. i know, you know, that division is still here but our communities are not going to thrive, our children won't have the communities that they need to be able to stay in and live in and have a good life if

ms. sherrod was the fact that the stories that she was telling about her own biases and overcoming them,hose are actually good lessons for all of us to learn because we all have biases. i've written about these in my book. >> reporter: that's a reference to his memoir, "dreams from my father," where he learned to be the son of a white mother and black father. >> as i was growing up, there were times when i had stereotypes about blacks and whites that you had to work through. and admit to yourself. and the more you were willing to bring those things up to the surface, the more you could identify them as being wrong. and move beyond them. >> reporter: but the president told leamy, there is, today, a lot to celebrate when it comes to racial relations. >> we should acknowledge the enormous progress that we've made, since the time that shirley sherrod was a child in the jim crow south. that's real progress. i'm sitting here as a testament to that, as president of the united states. >> reporter: and, juju, just as a point of interest, it was one year ago this week that president obama added fu

ms. sherrod is owed an apology. i would do so certainly on behalf of this administration. >> i started off by extending to her my personal and profound apologies. >> reporter: shirley sherrod returned home to georgia and went silent as the u.s. department of agriculture waits to hear what's next in her career. sherrod became the center of attention when conservative blogger andrew breitbart posted an edited portion of the speech she gave. she was forced to resign her position at the usda, but when the full tape emerged, the apologies mounted culminating with a call from the president. >> i've been dealing with some of the same issues he's had to deal with. >> reporter: now the administration and nation wait to see whether this formerly obscure government worker will return to a job with the department that once let her go. the sherrod affair overshadowed much of the white house agenda last week. look for the president to try and turn the page next week with a major speech on education reform and a trip to detroit to

ms. sherrod. i wondered if you had any word on whether she'll accept the job that's been offered and if there's any time frame for that? >> that's a question for her. >> following up on -- i think i know how you feel about this, but the conventional wisdom in washington is that the white house is trying to keep the focus on the release of the documents rather than what's in the documents. >> no, no -- >> you say the president is very concerned with this release, this breach of federal law. but is he concerned with evidence in these documents about civilian casualties, about cooperation between the taliban and the isi? >> chip, let's be clear. again, the statements that the president made in march of 2009 very much understand the complicating aspects of our relationship with both of these two countries, the existence of, as i said, historical relationships between the taliban and pakistani intelligence. and, look, during the recent debate about general mcchrystal, remember a decent part of the roll

ms. sherrod and to the congressional black caucus and the country -- basically sound bite and a clip of a film that was really unfortunate, it was outrageous what happened because when you look at what she has done with her life and the experiences that she had had in her life and what she had gone through, she is a wonderful woman who turned at the very horrible experiences which many african-americans have experienced in to an effort to try to make this country better. she is a woman who is a hero. she deserves a lot of credit for handling it the way she has. it was just a disaster and it was really very sad how she was treated. we were pleased with the apology because when one makes a mistake, one owes it up -- an apology to the affected party and others affected by it. host: as you well know often when public officials have accusations made against them, it's a book called response would be administrative leave until an investigation and then -- a typical response would be administrative leave until an investigation. , question to you on agriculture secretary in particular, do you sti

ms. sherrod's speech and particularly comments that she made that talks about this issue but also talks about the issue of class when it comes to race. let's list ton what she had to say. >> i couldn't say years ago i couldn't stand here saying what i'm saying, what i will say to you tonight. like i told you, god helped me to see that it is not just about black people, it's about poor people. and i've come a long ways. i knew that i couldn't live with hate, you know, as my mother has said to so many, if we had tried to live with hate in our hearts we would probably be dead now. but i have come to realize that we have to work together. and you know, it's sad that we don't have a room full of whites and blacks here tonight because we have to overcome the divisions that we have. we have to get to the point where, as has been said, race exists but it doesn't matter. we have to work just as hard. i know, you know, that division is still here but our communities are not going to thrive, our children won't have the communities that they need to be able to stay in and live in and have a good life if

ms. sherrod had said and meant the things she said, the collective response of the nation was the right one, that she should be removed from her job if she allows race to determine how and when she will work. the problem no one looked at the tape. collectively our response to what we thought was an injustice as a nation, be it fox news or the white house, was the wrong thing. she is the hero in this whole thing. the fact she has shown a temperament, a disposition and the same kind of reconciliation she expressed in her speech towards those in the media and i know to mr. breitbart she said he was dead wrong but to the president and all, that's the spirit we should all embrace. >> if she doesn't end up taking this job, does she do real damage to this administration? >> no, no, i don't think so. but i do think that in the grace and dignity she showed, she stuck to her principles and i think this country can learn a lesson. >> katrina and harold, good having you both here. >>> parents in one california town are warned to keep a close eye on their children after the abduction and murder of 17-ye

ms. sherrod's speech and particularly comments that she made that talks about this issue but also talks about the issue of class when it comes to race. let's list t what she had to say. >> i couldn't sayears ago i couldn't stand here saying what i'm saying, what i will say to you tonht. like i told you, god helped me to se that it is not just about black people, it's about poor people. and i've come a long ways. i knew that i couldt live with hate, you know, as my mother has said to so many, if we had tried to live with hate in our hearts we would probably be dead now. but i have come to realize that we have to work together. and you know, it's sad that we don't have a room full of whites and blacks here tonight because we have to overcome the divisions that we have. we have to get to the point where, as has been said, race exists but it doesn't matter. we have to work just as hard. i know, you know, that division is still here but our communities are not going to thrive, our children won't have the communities that they need to be able to stay in and live in and have a good life if we can't