Revisiting Bob Johnson
Posted: Friday, March 07, 2008 12:11 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
2008, Clinton, Obama
From NBC's Mark Murray
On the conference call in which the Clinton campaign -- through their congressional supporters -- called for Obama to dismiss Samantha Power from his campaign, a reporter asked this question: What about how the Clinton campaign handled Bob Johnson's controversial remarks about Obama?
Remember, in January, Johnson -- the founder of BET and a Clinton backer -- made a comment about Obama and his youthful drug use before introducing Clinton at an event in South Carolina. Referring to the controversy about whether Bill and Hillary Clinton were injecting race into the Dem contest, Johnson said, "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, when Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood that I won't say what he was doing but he said it in his book." Johnson also compared Obama to Sidney Poitier's character in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."
On the very day that Johnson made that comment, the Clinton campaign issued a statement from Johnson. “My comments today were referring to Barack Obama's time spent as a community organizer, and nothing else," he said. "Any other suggestion is simply irresponsible and incorrect."
At an MSNBC debate two days later, Clinton stood by Johnson's words, despite the uproar they produced. "Well, Bob has put out a statement saying what he was trying to say and what he thought he had said. We accept him on his word on that."
It wasn't until four days after his initial remarks that Johnson apologized to Obama -- reversing his earlier explanation that he was talking about Obama's work as a community organizer. "I'm writing to apologize to you and your family personally for the un-called-for comments I made at a recent Clinton event," he said in a statement. "In my zeal to support Senator Clinton, I made some very inappropriate remarks for which I am truly sorry. I hope that you will accept this apology. Good luck on the campaign trail."
On the conference call today, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said there was a difference between Johnson and Power. "Bob Johnson is a supporter of ours," he said, "but he is not someone who advises [the campaign] on a daily basis." Wolfson added, "There is a difference."
There is also a difference of the speed in which the two campaigns responded to the two controversial comments.
