Founder of BET Robert L. Johnson was campaigning with Hillary Clinton in South Carolina yesterday (Jan 13) when he made a suggestion yesterday possibly implying Obama’s past drug use.
According to the New York Times, Johnson was defending recent comments made by Clinton about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in which she said that it took President Johnson to sign the civil rights legislation he fought for.
Johnson maintained that Clinton was not trying to take credit away from Dr. King, who Johnson said led a “moral crusade.”
“That is the way the legislative process works in this nation and that
takes political leadership,” he said. “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,” added Johnson.
“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.”
Later in the day, Johnson released a statement through 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. 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.”
Bull Burton, an Obama campaign spokesman responded to the statement, referencing a former Clinton campaign official who publicly suggested that Republicans would use Obama’s former drug use to their advantage. “His tortured explanation doesn’t hold up against his original
statement. And it’s troubling that neither the campaign nor Senator
Clinton — who was there as the remark was made – is willing to condemn
it as they did when another prominent supporter recently said a similar
thing.”
