Did Obama tell Vilsack to make that speech?

You know, the contentious one the U.S. agriculture secretary made last week about rural America's loss of relevance?

From Dale Moore, the American Farm Bureau Federation's deputy director for public policy and a former USDA chief of staff during the Bush administration:

"We respect the secretary's opinion, but as our members make clear to us, these (regulatory issues) are still priority issues for us and we will keep pushing on them. At one point when the cards are all laid on the table and it's clear we have prevailed in our policy thinking ... we will thank them very kindly and move on to the next priority issue.

"We do respect the fact that Secretary Vilsack is the secretary of agriculture and was appointed by the president. As secretary, he does have a boss, and there may be occasions when the president suggests he needs to share some thoughts that may not be the most popular things out there."

Moore said he had no idea whether President Obama had input on Secretary Vilsack's remarks, but he remembers then-President Bush sent then-ag secretary Mike Johanns out to sell a budget proposal that was unpopular with some farm groups.

As Drudge likes to say, developing ...