Unhelpful Advice

A farmer in Illinois was worried about some new regulations he had heard about. So he asked Obama about it. On Obama's mega-bus listening tour. Obama said he should just call the USDA.

“Talk to them directly. Find out what it is that you’re concerned about,” Obama told the man. “My suspicion is, a lot of times, they’re going to be able to answer your questions and it will turn out that some of your fears are unfounded.”

The president's suspicion - that the USDA could answer - turned out to be mistaken.

An enterprising reporter, MJ Lee, called up the USDA and proceeded to get the run-around - through multiple agencies and organizations. It all culminated with this CYA email from the PR department at USDA:

“Secretary Vilsack continues to work closely with members of the Cabinet to help them engage with the agricultural community to ensure that we are separating fact from fiction on regulations because the administration is committed to providing greater certainty for farmers and ranchers. Because the question that was posed did not fall within USDA jurisdiction, it does not provide a fair representation of USDA’s robust efforts to get the right information to our producers throughout the country.”

So - no answer on whether the farmer's fears were well-founded.
But you have to admit the run-around was well-rounded.