Vilsack offered to resign over Sherrod

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack offered to resign from his position in the wake of the Shirley Sherrod controversy, Politico reported Wednesday.

Vilsack told Roger Simon in an exclusive interview Tuesday President Obama was correct in saying Vilsack "jumped the gun" when he accepted Sherrod's resignation without complete information.

Vilsack placed Sherrod, the Georgia state director of rural development for the USDA, on administrative leave after learning of a speech she gave in which she apparently indicated an unwillingness to help a white farmer in need. After she stepped down, the full context of her remarks were made clear, in which she was relating her successful struggle to overcome prejudice and help the white farmer save his land.

Simon asked Vilsack Tuesday if he considered resigning from his post.

"Sure," Vilsack said, adding he spoke with Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser David Axelrod and "indicated to the president I would do whatever I needed to do."

But "there was no appetite for resignation at the White House," Vilsack said.

"I made a very hasty decision which I deeply regret. This is a good woman. She's been put through hell. And I could have done and should have done a better job," Vilsack told Politico.