Johnson’s Comments About Obama are Telling But Untrue

You’d think after the misguided comments he made in January about Barack Obama’s drug use, BET founder Bob Johnson would have learned his lesson. Apparently he hasn’t.

Johnson made the following comments Tuesday in a published report in the Charlotte Observer.

"What I believe Geraldine Ferraro meant is that if you take a freshman senator from Illinois called `Jerry Smith' and he says I'm going to run for president, would he start off with 90 percent of the black vote?" Johnson said. "And the answer is, probably not... ."

"Geraldine Ferraro said it right. The problem is, Geraldine Ferraro is white. This campaign has such a hair-trigger on anything racial ... it is almost impossible for anybody to say anything."

Can Johnson really be picking up Ferraro’s argument and attempting to advance it?

The comments are both despicable and ridiculous. There are no facts to back the argument that Obama is leading Clinton among registered black voters simply because he’s black. In fact there is much evidence to the contrary. In an October 2007 CNN poll, Senator Hillary Clinton had a commanding 57 percent to 33 percent lead over Obama.

Just a few months later the tables turned. In a January 2008 survey by CNN/Opinion Research Corp., 59 percent of black Democrats backed Obama, for their party's presidential nomination, with 31 percent supporting Clinton, the senator from New York.

What happened? Well it was during a January appearance for the New York senator in Columbia that Bob Johnson first stepped into controversy, referring to Obama and "what he was doing in the neighborhood." The comment was a veiled reference to Obama’s drug use as a youth. Johnson later apologized for the remark, but the damage was done.

The Clinton campaign is still getting it wrong. They want us to believe that in the arena of political ideas and personality, Senator Obama is winning simply because he’s black. That’s an insult to the blacks, middle class whites and independents that support Obama in large numbers.

If simply being black was the issue than any black guy could be President. Not likely. Obama is not Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton or Alan Keyes or any other “brother”. He’s a smooth resilient politician with a message and style that resonates with voters.

If Hillary’s attack dogs focused more on Obama’s message and why voters are reacting to it positively, they might have a chance. Instead they keep covering their eyes and shouting, “He’s winning because he’s black.”

Maybe they need to look in the mirror. After a series of gaffes and misstatements, that some would call outright lies; Senator Clinton’s ability to tell the truth is being questioned.

A Charlotte Observer/WCNC poll finds North Carolina voters believe Hillary Clinton is far less trustworthy than either Barack Obama or John McCain. More than half of those surveyed, 54 percent, described McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, as trustworthy, while 48 percent said they trust Obama. Only 25 percent say Clinton is trustworthy.

Maybe Obama has his largest lead of the campaign in the Gallup national tracking polls, not because he’s black but because voters find him credible.

By Tony Mottley Am I Right? Show producer.