On Sunday, Bob Johnson - founder of Black Entertainment Television and world's first Black billionaire - was in Columbia, South Carolina stumping and opening for Hillary Clinton's campaign (for Black votes). During his comments he once again played the "Bill Clinton Fairy Tale" card by comparing Obama to Sidney Poitier's fictional character in the movie "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." Johnson took a turn at explaining away Hillary Clinton's disparaging comments about Martin Luther King leading the move for civil rights. And not to be outdone, he also made a veiled reference - that was later denied - to Obama's past drug use while he was in college.A few excerpts of the Johnson comments:
"She did not mean to take any credit away from him when she said that it took President Johnson to sign the civil rights legislation he fought for. Dr. King had led a 'moral crusade,'but such crusades have to be written into law. That is the way the legislative process works in this nation and that takes political leadership. That’s all Hillary was saying.”
And to me, as an African-American, I am frankly insulted that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood –? and I won’t say what he was doing, but he said it in the book –? when they have been involved.”
“That kind of campaign behavior does not resonate with me, for a guy who says, I want to be a reasonable, likable, Sidney Poitier ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.’ And I’m thinking, I’m thinking to myself, this ain’t a movie, Sidney. This is real life.”
Bob Johnson "clarified" his alleged reference to Obama's drug use in a statement released by the Clinton campaign:
My comments today were referring to Barack Obama’s time spent as a community organizer, and nothing else. Any other suggestion is simply irresponsible and incorrect.Read the entire article in the New York Times blog section here.
When Hillary Clinton was in her twenties she worked to provide protections for abused and battered children and helped ensure that children with disabilities could attend public school.
That results oriented leadership — even as a young person — is the reason I am supporting Hillary Clinton.”
Watch Bob Johnson spend close to 9 minutes crapping on Barack Obama and only 30 seconds introducing Hillary Clinton here.
plez sez: this sucks! bob johnson sucks! if judas had only been so kind to jesus!
the clinton campaign is beginning to show its TRUE COLORS on a daily basis. if you don't believe that ALL of bob johnson's comments were not approved and given a green light before he spoke, then i have a bridge in brooklyn to sell you. it's now obvious that not only will bill & hillary say anything, but they'll try to get other people to say anything to get her elected! the clintons' patronizing manner and assumption that Black America owes them something is amazing... simply amazing!
i truly believe that everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion and just about everything is in fair play during an election for president, but pulling in a BLACK celebrity to bash Barack Obama, the FIRST & ONLY Black person to ever seriously contend for the nomination for office of president is - in the words of my buddy Raw Dawg Buffalo - FOUL!
bob johnson's actions were similar to groups like "Mormons Against Romney" or "Women Against Hillary" or "Catholics Against Guiliani" or "Baptists Who Bash Huckabee"! have you ever heard of these groups? well, neither have i!
i'm not asking people to like Barack Obama because he's Black, but - DAMN! - let's give him the benefit of the doubt. if we don't agree with his candidacy, why can't we just keep quiet? if you don't agree with him, why can't you just be "too busy" to attend a rally for hillary, like those republican candidates who snubbed the "Black" debate at morgan state university a few months back?
and while assailing obama for his actions in college, i wonder if bob johnson would like to divulge what actions led his (and my) college fraternity to EXPEL him from the fraternity while he was in college (only to reinstate him a few years ago - after over 30 years - after he made his first billion dollars)?!?
plezWorld is just wondering... because what bob johnson did was a BITCH MOVE! i just call 'em as i see 'em.
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Uh oh, Bob got kicked out of the frat?? Ah-haaa! My grandfather (the Kappa) and his line got kicked out of the frat house for having too many parties, but thats another story altogether, lol. Perhaps Ill blog about it one day - Ill let you know!
But I do NOT like being pandered to, by ANYone! Hell, I didnt like it when Marion Barry attended an Afro-centric church and wearing kente-cloth lined suits to appeal to the "Black" voters, and I sure as hell dont like it when politicians of other etnicities do it either. Please, God, come up with another tact.
L
yea man, well said. Yuo are abgtter man than me because I would not have been so NICE as u. I mean, he has never mentioned race, he just unveiled his economic stimulus plan. Hill asked Bily Sheehan to resign (her former co chair) fo saying what Bob Johnson said. I know Johnson has raised millions for the Clintons and even vactions with them. Why she cant apologioze or repudiate what he said too
Obviously, the Clintons want to keep certain stories and issues churning in the news:
1) Obama is Black. That is the "race issue" in a nutshell. The "race issue" is that Obama's skin color is "brown." If we acknowledged that, we would all have to realize how silly it is to be so hung-up about it. But, by calling it "the race issue", we can pretend that we are talking about something
complex, pressing and important while we are really just reminding white voters that Obama's skin is brown.
2) Obama used cocaine in the "neighborhood" and so Obama, Clinton would have us believe, is a 'gun-toting, ghetto-dwelling, drug addict gangster gang-banging drug dealing hoodlum.' Since white people (and even socially conservative Democratic church-going Black people) will never vote for such a person,
it seems evident that the Clintons are continuing to bang this drum through their surrogates, even though it is pissing off a lot of Black people (including me). They must figure that (a) they will win more white voters for every Black voter they lose, and (b) this antagonistic attitude toward Blacks now will help them in a general election against Republicans later. Having Blacks somewhat angry at Clinton will help her to get Independent votes and Reagan Democrat votes in November.
This is making me want to vote for Barack Obama.
Now, I'm signed up to vote in the Democrats Abroad Vote-By-Internet primary. Hillary better watch out if she continues along this path! I've supported her until now, but this is insulting. There has to be a way to fight Obama that doesn't involve denigrating a group (Blacks) that makes up 20% of Democratic Party voters, a group that always votes Democratic.
I am not particularly surprised that Bob Johnson came out with such nonsense. First of all, it's clear that he's part of the ignorant cabal of "black leadership" the Clintons pull out from time to time, but more importantly, a look at what BET had become by the time he sold the company shows how little stewardship Johnson has shown re: the black community.
BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE, SR.
WHY HILLARY'S DOG DON'T HUNT
Hillary managed to pull her carcass out of the fire in the New Hampshire Primary. But her 39 to 36 percent victory over Senator Obama seems rather shallow when you consider that she was seen as the presumptive Commander-in-Chief in waiting just prior to the Iowa caucuses. In just a few short weeks Hillary has gone from the anointed one to a woman who was, literally, brought to tears over concern for her political career—and those very tears points out an issue that begs to be examined.
If Hillary's tears were genuine (and that's a big IF), we need to ask ourselves whether or not she has the emotional strength to handle the job of President of the United States. If she breaks down into tears under the stress of simply running for the job, what can we expect from her under the awesome responsibility of actually doing the job? Some may say that's a cheap shot that's only being leveled at her because she's a woman, but actually, it's a sword that cuts both ways. If Barack Obama would have broken down under similar circumstances, his candidacy would have been over. So when we're discussing the most powerful job in the world, we can't think in terms of whether the candidate is a man or a woman, we must look at their character, strength, and stability alone—and that's exactly what my question seeks to address.
The fact is, we know very little about Hillary Clinton, other than she's married to Bill. She projects the image of a strong and independent woman, but how independent is she? Truly independent women are indeed something to behold--they rely solely on their own resources under tremendous odds. No old boys club for them–it's just one woman against the world. But Hillary seems to fall short in that regard–she tends to have no problem at all with embracing her husband's accomplishments as her own. With all of her talk about experience, for example—it's not her experience, it's her husband's. The only experience she has is that she slept next to power for eight years. If you take that experience away, Obama is more experienced, hands down. Hillary's claim of vast experience is completely analogous to if Mamie Eisenhower suggested that she was qualified to take over as commander of the allied command simply because she was married to General Eisenhower.
Of course, I'm being facetious--but only slightly. Because the point is, just as Mamie Eisenhower would be basing her claim on her marital status, Hillary Clinton actually seems to consider the office of the president community property. One can see it in her irrational anger towards Senator Obama. She seems to look upon the senator as a young interloper seeking to take away something that is rightfully hers. That's why she can't resist attacking him every chance she gets. Even when she became "tearful", she just couldn't resist implying that Barack didn't know what he was doing: "Some of us know what we will do day one, and other's haven't thought it through." How does she know what Obama has "thought through", and what makes her such an expert on the presidency—other than she slept with one?"
While Hillary tearfully claimed that her primary reason for wanting to become president was so she could bring change, and move the country in a different direction, her combative, calculating , and mean-spirited behavior clearly belies such altruistic motives. Everything she's done since she made that statement embraces the old-style approach to politics. Rather than emphasizing what she has to offer that would make her the best choice for president, she's chosen to use the old, Rovian, attack-dog style of campaigning in an attempt to undermine Obama's appeal–and history shows that appeal is a president's most valuable asset.
Hillary campaigned in South Carolina with Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, in order to appeal to the Black voters, for example. Then Johnson immediately went on stage to attack Senator Obama, and serve Hillary's purpose well–or did he? Hillary showed very poor judgement in using Johnson, and judgement is another important presidential quality. One would think that if Hillary truly had the best interest of the Black community at heart, she wouldn't have even wanted to appear on the same stage with Johnson. While, granted, Johnson is a highly successful Black entrepreneur, he's also responsible for spreading more pernicious dysfunction and cultural degradation among more Black youth than any Black man who's ever lived. This man's thoughtless greed has contributed directly to the destruction of life, and the functional viability of, literally, millions of Black kids. If Hillary didn't know that, she's out of touch with the Black experience; if she did, she simply didn't care.
It was the height of irony that she would send Johnson on stage to criticize Senator Obama. The senator has spent his entire adult life trying to create a better life for the people in the Black community. On the other hand, what has Johnson done? After building the perfect tool to educate Black youth and introduce them to a better way of life, what did he do with it? He made a fortune by spreading a culture of gangster rap–with its glorification of murder, disrespect for women, saggin' pants, and the perpetuation of a dysfunctional vocabulary that all but ensures that countless young Black people will never be able to get through a job interview. Then Hillary brings this man up to criticize Obama?! If you call that love for the Black community, that's a love I can do without.
And if all of that's wasn’t bad enough, after Johnson spent what I understand was 9 minutes criticizing Barack Obama and only 30 seconds introducing Hillary Clinton, when the controversy began to grow over Johnson’s statements, neither he, nor Hillary had the courage to standup to their convictions. After being criticized for their clear attempt smear Senator Obama, they told a transparent lie trying to deny that was their motive. So if it is Hillary’s contention that change is what is needed in the White House, all she’s demonstrating is more of the same, and while character is without a doubt required to lead this nation, Senator Clinton has demonstrated that she’s less than fully burdened in that regard as well.
Now let us contrast that with Senator Obama’s background, character, and preparation for change. After high school Obama moved to Los Angeles and attended Occidental College for two years. Thereafter he transferred to Columbia University in New York. He majored in political science and specialized in international relations, receiving his B.A. in 1983. Thereafter he worked for Business International Corporation, and later, the New York Public Interest Research Group. After moving to Chicago he became a community organizer–he worked with low-income residents in Chicago's Roseland community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing project. He went on to Harvard in 1988, and in 1990 became the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review in 104 years. After obtaing his law degree, magna cum laude, in 1991, he returned to Chicago to direct a voter registration drive. He then became an associate attorney in the law firm of Miner, Barnhil l & Galland, representing community organizers, doing discrimination and voter rights claims. He then went on to become a lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago.
In 1996 Barack was elected to the Illinois State Senate where he represented the 13th District on the south-side of Chicago. While a state senator he worked with both Democrats and Republicans to draft successful legislation on ethics, health care reform, tax credits for low-income workers, welfare reform, subsidies for child care, a law monitoring racial profiling, and led the passage of legislation requiring the videotaping of homicide interrogations. Yet, he still managed to win the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police.
I'd be less than honest, however, to contend that Hillary hasn't demonstrated compassion for the plight of the average American. She has. But her tendency to discount Obama's experience, competence, and qualifications to be president is grossly disingenuous, and the Johnson affair clearly demonstrates that her character and judgement under fire is highly suspect. What is also clear is that Obama's character is without question, and his preparation for the nation's highest office far exceeds her own. After all, while Hillary, and her healthcare plan, was being soundly trounced by Republican opponents in Washington, Obama was managed to enlist Republicans allies to help him get his passed in in Illinois. And while Hillary was at the White House giving lip service to helping the poor, Barack was in the trenches, and public housing projects, directly involved in the struggle.
So while both senators have challenged the opposition to "bring it on", Barack was on the ground in the struggle, while Hillary was at home, on the phone.
Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Way to go, Plez! Keep right on calling 'em like you see 'em (LOL).
I'm with you on this one. After BET, Bob ought not point the finger at anyone.
Bob Johnson AKA Uncle Tom Johnson f...ing sucks!!!! Who the the hell asked him anything! He's a f...ing hater!! He needs to be worried about the Bobcats...always in the news, bitchin' and crying.
Robert L. Johnson is the currently a Board of Director for KB Home Inc. On Wikipedia Johnson’s bio has no mention of Johnson who sits on KB Home Board of Directors? Clearly Robert L. Johnson does not want to be associated with one of the nations largest builders?
Robert L. Johnson does not have a biography on the Charlotte Bobcats Official Website? The RLJ Companies, Robert L. Johnson does include 2 words: KB Home.
Currently, Mr. Johnson serves on the following boards:
* KB Home
* Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
* Strayer Education
* International Management Group
* NBA Board of Governors
* Deutsche Bank Advisory Committee
* The Business Council
* Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
Other distinguished KB Home Board members include Robert L. Johnson's buddy Bruce Karatz who was just convicted as a felon and is currently under house arrest in his 24 room Bel-Air Mansion (not built by KB Home) serving out his 8 months home confinement for swindling 11 Million Dollars. Martha Stewart is a spokesperson for KB Home also served time for her former stock swindle; Martha was not offered a spokesperson job for the BET Black Entertainment Television. Gary A. Ray head of KB Home human resources is a convicted felon in this current stock swindle.
Robert L. Johnson and KB Home built this lemon with Bruce Karatz. KB Home is under a Federal Trade Commission Consent Order. KB Home must buy back your home if not 100% satisfied within the first year? Robert L. Johnson has never responded as KB Home Board of Directors to any customer complaint letter sent to him by certified mail. KB Home sells Lemons, Just Google Robert L. Johnson Sucks. http://www.akbhomesucks.com/Executives
Seems the entire BET, Charlotte Bobcats, a National Basketball Association franchise have an image problem? Not mentioning their chairman's proud accomplishments at KB Home?
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