Political Punch

Did not the last two elections tell all of us Americans that it is not who we want as President; but it is who they want as President! Think about the Bush mess, whoever made sure he was President is the they that I am talking about! Now, do you know who "They" are, find that out and you will know that all you have is a voice, note a vote! And yes I am a African American Muslim and proud of it!

Democratic campaign went from attempting to elect first qualified woman President to an election travesty by Obama's entry.

Remarks by Bob Johnson were not out of line regardless of his attempt to recover them.

The reality is that Obama became President of the Harvard Law Review, a lawyer (with presumed good character), an officer of the court, s Senator, and now bids to become President - all as a former cocaine users in a nation where we lock up people who possess, use, and sell cocaine.

If that isn't a fairy tale, what is?

How can America justify locking up his brethren while they make him President?

The irrationality of the situation would be humorous if it wasn't so serious, and if so many impressionable kids were not the recipient of this illogical idiocy.

If people thought it was unwise to expose Bill Clinton and the Lewinsky affair to children, how can they justify exposing Obama's history to children.

One need only read the tea leaves to envision the headlines: America elects first black former cocaine user as President. That is not inspiration that qualifies as vision in the eyes, nor Christian values, of America. Nor does it inspire other nations to take America seriously.

Bush, as a former drunk was bad enough; now Americans are expected to elect a former cocaine user as well?

As America's best and brightest, this is a very hard sell, and Bob Johnson knows it.

Geevill--I am far from panicked. My point in the 'Remember 1992?' post is that Hillary is running a 1992-style campaign, with tactics that would have worked then. I believe she is giving away the youth vote by using those tactics now. Everything that she says or does is scripted, polled, and designed to have a political effect. I saw, in Bill's comments, her MLK comment, the anti-union suit in Nevada, and now the Johnson gaffe, a calculated attempt to appeal to white voters who don't like blacks. Many others see it, too. Virtually no one but a few hard-core Hillary supporters would dare say Obama is playing the race card. Hillary supporters say that, because they follow their leader, who has learned that if you coldly and boldly tell a lie often enough, some people will believe it (years ago, many would have believed it, you see). Watching, and learning from the political process interests me. I support no one now, so I cannot be panicked by any result. If this works for Hillary, I will admit to being surprised, and we all will have learned something from the OLD Pro.

Obama ISN'T playing the race card. That is exactly what HE IS NOT DOING.

I watched as Bill Clinton relied heavily on the black vote in America. And yes Bill brought race into every speech he could. What's a Clinton to do now????

One strategy would be to actually drag Obama's race into this campaign in such a way Obama feels compelled to respond. The fact that Obama is so well liked and just happens to be black has to be a concern for the Clintons.

I am reminded America is about a whole lot more...we can accomplish anything working together. I believe Obama can bring that about. He inspires me just like JFK inspired this young nation decades ago.

Discussions of race should be left out of this campaign. We can decide for ourselves. People that support Barack Obama will do so because he is who he is.

I have always voted Rupublican...but if I had to cast a ballot today it would be for Obama. Race has nothing to do with it...I am a white 62 year old grandmother from the South. Obama is the real deal.

PulSamsara -that is a fairy tale. Yet you bring up a good point. Obama is pro-Arab with strong ties to Syrian Arab Rezko.

Barack Obama TOOK A STAND against the IRAQ INVASION when it MATTERED.

Hillary Clinton PLAYED politics when it MATTERED.

Everything else is just BUNK !

I agree with Mike in that Mr. Johnson's comments--exactly why he was criticizing Sen. Obama--are so convoluted as to be incomprehensible. Could it be that Mr. Johnson has moved on up in the world and is more interested in feathering his own nest than in doing anything else?

SteveW sounds panicked. He should be. Obama is playing the race card and has a bad hand.

Remember 1992? You could trot out an endorsement, play the race card, claim your opponent played the race card, send out a few million snail-mailers, count on your friends in the media to back you up, and the fix was in. Most of the country would get snippets on TV, and only a few would read about it at length in the news magazines or major papers, which you had worked on well in advance to be sympathetic to your position. Fast-forward. Now, as soon as Hillary does something painfully obvious as this, we can get on Liberal or Conservative blogs, major network blogs, major newspaper or magazine blogs without a subscription, and read what people say about it. Yes, Hillary is trying to ruthlessly play the race card. No, Obama has not responded in kind, yet Hillary's minions are out there, whining as if he had. She goes on Meet the Press to continue the latest lie in a transparent way. It would have worked in 1992. Remember 1992? Hillary does. But young voters, 18-30, were 2-14 years old then. They know NOW. And they are running away from Hillary in droves. Hillary still has older, white, Democratic women on her side, and undereducated, less internet-friendly white Democrats. For now.

The Clintons are playing a twisted political game that is alienating democrats, independents and progressive thinkers in general. Only those on the left side of the bell curve willnot see the Clinton Campaign's incessant campaign to demonize OBAMA. What's fascinating is that OBAMA inspires progressive democrats, brings into the party independents and disaffected Republicans and expans the base of the party even further with an energized youth vote. His popularity soars higher than the annointed establishment candidate and the DLC, Democratic Establishment & Clinton Campaign, all by the way which are one in the same, decide that they have to clip his wings and bring him down to earth. This too happened on the Republican side 8 years ago when the BUSH Campaign used dirty politics to SLANDER John McCain in South Carolina. It is my sincere hope that every earnest, hopeful and spiritual American comes out and votes against Hillary Clinton. I know I will.

Bush
Clinton
Bush
Clinton?
...THAT'S NOT CHANGE!
We know what the definition of is is
And we know when somebody is giving us
the biz is!
It's a democracy, stupid!
Not a dynasty!

Obama's pal Oprah is the wealthiest of wealthiest.what about Obama's wealthy pal Rezko? Voters are taking notice of the Obama race card tactic. Edwards could get a bump out of it.

Bob Johnson’s creation of BET is absolutely nothing to be proud of.
In fact I would say that he has contributed to the negative stereotypes portrayed on television in regards to Afro Americans….

BET has been a sick disease slowly killing our young for too long and this smiling and grinning man is the cause of it… New Era Bobby… you mean nothing to our community.

I am sad that the Clintons have tried to race bait Obama in an effort to cause division between blacks and whites, this is a cruel and dirty trick that I am sure the American people will not stand for…especially the educated and the young.
What other reason could she possibly have in bringing Dr King into this… other than to cause some form of racial tension…

In the past my family were big fans of the Clintons …after this weekend I must admit the hatred for them could not be stronger

how sad

As for Hilliary gravitating toward the wealthy - Are you trying to infer that Ben is any wealthier than Oprah!!

Clearly Ben could have been speaking of Obama's days in highschool. However, it is just as plausible that he was talking about his time in the Illinois Senate. The notion that Obama isn't going to play status quo politics just doesn't bear fruit. That's exactly what he openly admitted that he was doing when he voted "present" over 150 times on key legislation during his tenure. There is also the question of the purchase of his home. NO - no scrutiny warranted there. Give me a break. The woman that just happened to buy the lot next door cause the seller wanted to sell the house and lot together just happened to be a hood's wife? And what a deal he got on the house. There is so much in his record in Illinois that has yet to receive the scrutiny it deserves and the blatant contradictions answered. Can't change the face of politics when your record clearly shows you've done little more than followed the status quo yourself even though several said that on the issue of abortion Obama clearly could have voted his convictions and it wouldn't have made any difference in the vote. So don't be so quick to assume that Ben wasn't justified by his statement. Obama's behavior during highschool isn't the only thing that warrants scrutiny.

Just like Hill to gravitate towards the wealthy. Oh and how it was a plus that he is a black man. What tangled web will she weave next? Keep it up Hill, you're drummin' up more votes for Obama with your antics.

Get your facts straight before saying stupid things.
Obama HAS publicly criticized the Jena 6 incident in favor of the African American community, go find it on youtube.

Obama has worked as a civil rights lawyer when after numerous job offers from corporations flowed in when he graduated at the top of his class at Harvard. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.

He worked against the death penalty in the Illinois State legislature for 8 years!

Ha ha reading all those incredible comments about Obama make really believe he is da bomb! God have mercy LOL!
I know Obama for at least 7 years, I go to the same health club and other places he hang or used to hang before; and to be honest, he is a nice guy; but hard to believe that simple guy in a couple of years has become this super human person that is better than everybody else and capable to do things that that that are not in local or national politics never tho he would be. I like many other people in Chicago still scratching our heads about the way he has been portrayed or is been marketed to the rest of the country. It really pays having big friends in the right places, be a good followers and accept alot of money to serve their purpose evidently. I still haven't made my mind about who I will be voting for; but I can't vote for Obama thats for sure not matter what the press says, commercial advertisements, positive coverage of him, and a bunch of fancy speeches. Maybe this Obama is his twin or something; because is not the same we got to know in person here in Chicago. I'll vote for real leader. Obama is not there yet!

It's really laughable to see how easy the people in our country can move toward a politician based in few speeches, the media coverage of his campaign slogans, and his teflon strategy. Interesting to see that because he is an African American any criticism of him can be received like racism! This is really silly, Obama followers are acting like cult followers or area really desperate for "change" that are following a leader when they don't even know what he has done...all they love and "admiration of him" is based in a cute book story and media hype that still don't dare to be objective and scrutinize Obama as they should be doing. Since when Obama become the "model of integrity and the truly leader to leader this country." What he has done? Johnson is right in criticize him. The Obama campaign is the one using the race card, they use anything that is possible so they can keep the focus off thy real questions and issues that this country needs to be debated. When the conversation turns in to real issues they know Obama he has no chance. So far the Obama campaign is winning the media and public relations war, the media loves him because is a new product even if the quality is bad...it sales; the biased positive focus in Obama is obvious while they love to use every single words form the Clintons to criticize them and also totally ignore Edwards campaign.

I have always been a Clinton supporter. I was one to wish for the day that the Clintons returned to the Whitehouse. But to see Bill Clinton in his fury and anger in trying to diminish Mr. Obama has shown me a side of the Clintons I never thought I would see. I was voting for Hillary, but now I am definitely voting for Mr. Obama.

Yup. His comment makes no sense unless he was alluding to something that Obama was "doing in the neighborhood" that wasn't productive or beneficial to the community. He was clearly alluding to the admitted drug use, and he was clearly lying later on. I mean, really, why not just admit it? It's not like it would be out of the ordinary for a Clinton shill to point out what Obama has already pointed out about his past. To pretend otherwise is pathetic.

We can expect more of this, though. They will stop at nothing.

It is sad that it has to take somebody rich to tell us that the only thing Obama shares with us is the color of skin. All the other community leaders just act coward.

Should race be an issue in this election? No, absolutely not. But should all those issues that are particularly important to the African American community be an issue in this election? They should, absolutely.

Tremendous progress has been made since the civil rights movement, thanks to the work of Martin Luther King and many others, but anyone lives in the America knows that their work is far from finished. Recently published research shows that African American are falling further behind again economically in the last several years and our children are falling further behind again academically.

Has any our community leader dare to ask what Obama has done or even addressed the issues that are unique to the African American community since he became the US senator? Has he addressed any of these issues in his presidential campaign?

He didn't. He didn't even say a damn thing in the Jena Six case, when there is something need to be said, when even some of the white politicians have complained. No wonder Jesse Jackson, although an Obama's supporter, has observed that Obama "behaves white".

Should we support Obama because he can deliver a good speech and he shares our skin color, therefore he is one of us?

Deeds is a million times better than words. Even those beautiful words come from an African American, without deed, they are just simply empty.

The issues that are fundamentally important to the African American community need to be addressed in this election. If it has to take a billionaire to remind us that Bill and Hillary have always been working on these issues, so be it. I only hoped that the community political leaders have the courage to point out the same truth.

This is pretty incredible, unbelievable. We're talking events of a week and Clinton has the audacity to feed THESE recent, uh, days-old, hours-old events to the Revise-History, Scorch-Earth, Didn't-Inhale Clinton Machine? And who's coming to dinner? Bob who?

So, last week, during the NH primary campaign when they were feeling pretty desperate with the polls and everything (you with me so far -- this is true, right? Happened? We all on the same page so far?), Bill appears at a campaign event and says Obama's story is a fairy tale. He can't make his wife taller, make her male, make her, well, Obama, Bill whines bitterly. Bill's very angry about this -- can't you see? You're missing something here -- read my lips, he whispers, "she's Female, come on!"

Then, shortly after Bill's remarks, Hillary herself says:

"Dr. King had been on the front lines. He had been leading a movement. But Dr. King understood, which is why he made it very clear, that there has to be a coming to terms of our country politically in order to make the changes that would last for generations beyond the iconic, extraordinary speeches that he gave. That's why he campaigned for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. That's why he was there when those great pieces of legislation were passed. Does he deserve the lion's share of the credit for moving our country and moving our political process? Yes, he does."

After Hillary basically says, "Hey Obama, don't give too much credit to what Dr. Martin Luther King dreamt of -- all this hope stuff is false. Yeah, let's not have "false hopes." I mean, MLB had to get Lyndon B. Johnson to do the real work, remember? Unlike what you think, that white man was really the one who got all the work done for your civil rights movement stuff."

Senator Obama in the meanwhile, stays quiet. All in the meanwhile, with all these headlines going back and forth, regarding what I outlined above, Senator Obama says nada.

The news sort of talk about these remarks by the Clintons. Sort of. There are other headline news. Clinton comes first in NH, and some people think it's because she almost cried, and she makes a speech and says, "Okay, I'll try and cry more often folks, should've listened to you a bit more carefully -- huh. THAT's what you wanted?"

Senator Obama still stays quiet. All in the meanwhile, with all these headlines going back and forth, regarding what I outlined above, Senator Obama says nada.

Then, uh uh, problems for the Clintons. Clyburn, the top ranking black politician, gets angry at the Clintons' remarks (and maybe he also got peeved at other vicious Clinton lies, e.g., Bill claiming he was against the war from the beginning when there's undisputed evidence of speeches he gave supporting Bush on Iraq war?). "You guys being racist here?" Clyburn wonders incredulously.

Senator Obama still stays quiet. All in the meanwhile, with all these headlines going back and forth, regarding what I outlined above, Senator Obama says nada.

So, the Clintons, who desperately need the black vote, then go on radio to Al Sharpton saying, "Hey, Obama is a great guy, he can win, no, no, no, he's no fairy tale."

Obama, in the meanwhile, still keeps quiet.

Hillary now goes on Meet the Press and says, "It's Obama's fault. He's been twisting my words, and oh my god, people, HE IS MAKING RACE AN ISSUE! AND I'M CRYING, SEE MY TEARS???"

So, Obama finally responds, "Uhm. You know, this is kinda fascinating to me. I mean, I didn't say a word? Did anyone hear me say anything about this?"

Nope, Senator. It's just the crazy Clintons again, and some crazy Americans believing the crap, as they do sometimes.

Sigh.

I feel badly for Barack Obama.Having been a independent since voting for Bill,I sent e-mails encouraging Mr. Obama to run because he offered hope.Bill offered hope but his distractions created grid-lock.If New Hampshire voted looked up the word altruistic they might have realized after they left office Al Gore,Bill Clinton,George HW and Barbara,Jimmy and Roslynn Carter have all engaged in these activities.Hillary's tears were all about her because you can accomplish worthwhile things out of office.The fact when she speaks has as much appeal as a Head On commercial has us suffering from "Hillary Fatigue". To have such a polarizing figure fragment the Democratic party in the primaries alone does not offer much hope when it comes to bipartison cooperation in the Congress.

Enough already! It is so disruptive to start with the negative comments and the blaming. Both canidates say they want to "MAKE CHANGE" and here is their opportunity to do so. Let's get off of what someone thinks Sen. Clinton ment or whether or not Sen. Obama was more than a recreational user of drugs. I want to know what is going to be different. What 'changes' are they going to make that will keep me employed, covered by health insurance and protected?

how sad that Mr. Johnson got on stage and made a big fool of himself. Nobody respects him anymore anyway. The weak denial is directed at only the foolish. Now I conclude he is as big a liar as the Bill and Hillary tag team. Lets turn the page and close the door on that idiot Johnson too.

Bob Johnson is irrelevant and has been for many years since the Tavis Smiley debacle. We've go the right billionare on our side and she has much more credibility from the Black community than Johnson!

The whole Clinton machine is disreputable and vile. I can't believe I defended them back in the 1990's. They are liars. Liars. They make me sick.

I remember G.W. Bush once said at Yale that if you are a C student at Yale, you can still become the President of the United States, but if you are a Yale drop out, you can only become the vice President.

Maybe one day Obama will tell us that if you are a druggie, you can still become the President of the United States. That would be truly inspirational, especially to our children.

Clinton supporters are down to trying to insist that Obama is playing the race card even though he never said anything about the MLK or "shuck and jive" or "imaginary black friend" comments from her camp. Then she goes on national TV and lies about his record on Iraq, lies about his voting record in the state senate, and lies about her little lawsuit (*cough* voter suppression *cough*) in Nevada. Then her surrogate attacks Obama's admitted drug use and she has nothing to say about repudiating the remarks. Simply disgusting.

Cocaine is not just a drug. Its a hard drug, controlled by drug cartels and it's responsible for thousands of death in Latin America and the US. Would you vote for someone to be on your child's school board who used to "score some blow"? Why would you vote for that person to be president?

Anyone who thinks the Republicans won't run to the bank with this are foolish.

So is Mr. Johnston rascist too, Obama?

Isn't the fact that Obama was open about his youthful drug use and THEN turned it around...went to and graduated from Columbia, became a community organizer in Chicago, went to Harvard Law and graduated magna cum laude while becoming the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, then turned down a supreme court clerkship and joined a civil rights law firm back in Chicago, became a constitutional law professor at one of the most respected schools innthe country, got elected to the Illinois legislature for 4 terms (same as Abraham Lincoln), was right about Iraq from the get-go, then got elected to the US Senate, has passed more of his own bills in 3 years than Hillary has in 7, and has run a superb campaign QUITE INDICATIVE of what kind of individual Obama is? And Robert Johnson is worried about his high school drug use?

True story. We don't respect Bob Johnson or his opinion. He's made his billion promoting and enforcing the worst of our stereotypes and that has robbed him of his credibility. Black women on the whole, hold the BET founder in contempt, for his consistent portayal of Women as objects. Make no mistake, he was promised something for this "endorsement", and to get it he will use BET to turn young black America away. As a matter of fact, Barack Obama as a roll model for Young Black America, makes the product he slings worth less, if Young Black Americans begin to see there's mroe than Pimpin Hoes and Caddilac Do's his network begins to go out of style. If we as Black Americans begin to wake up, If this story gets any network coverage, Clinton will lose SC, and quite possibly Nevada as well.

How could anyone want Bill, errr Hillary Clinton running our country? These people are pathological LIARS.

Hillary has lost my vote - not just in the primary, but in the general election should she win the nomination.

She needs to stop dividing all of us by our race and gender. I expect that kind of behavior from Karl Rove and the Republican slime machine, not from the Clintons.

Bob Johnson. Bob is upset with the black community because he betrayed his own people and they no longer RESPECT him. So an endorsement from him, means nothing to the black community.

Is Obama above criticism? He's no MLK nor is he JFK. He says "they" haven't commented on Senator Clinton's remarks. I beg to differ. His surrogates are busy pushing the race card. MLK stood for all people, not just Blacks.
Lola

Bill Clinton admitted using marijuana as a grown man. Has anybody interrogated Hillary? Why hasn't anybody ask her about her commodity trading? What about sealing up the office of Vince Foster before the police could inspect it? What about the Travelgate papers she 'discovered' in her office months after they 'went missing'? What about her brother's pardon for drug crimes? This is all part of her 35 years of experience! It should be part of the public discourse.

The Obama campaign has made zero race-card plays out of what has been a succession of either very angry, very edgy, or very oddball comments coming from the Clinton Camp. In fact, it's been the blogosphere, unaffiliated people like Donna Brazille, the Media who have picked up on these comments. Sorry, but the former Commander in Chief going off his rocker at Dartmouth in an angry, incoherent rant about Obama is NOT made any more palatable by watching the whole quote, or the whole video as Hillary demanded (rightly perhaps) that NBC do this AM on MTP. The African-American blogosphere jumped on all this stuff immediately. The general blogospher jumped on it too. HRC's claim that the Obama campaign played this is actually quite bizarre. She and Bill are the newsmakers here, not the other way around.

And, finally, Mr Johnson, who can be found making promo commercials for CNBC financial TV is yet another in a line of Clinton Camp folks making a bulls-eye attack on Obama personally. Did ANYONE here anything policy related here, in these remarks?

Didn't think so.

The remark has been blown out of proportion, but the undertone is not that subtle. Clinton is highlighting the difference between herself and Obama by casting herself as the establishment President (whom also helped get us into Vietnam!), and Martin Luther King - who made the ultimate sacrifice for Civil Rights. Does anyone think this was a winning moment for the Clintons?

Oh, and about the drugs...come on, people, let's grow up. More than half of current politicians have used, or still use, drugs. Very few have the courage to admit to it, which, in case you didn't know, is one of the critical steps to stopping an addiction (AA, GA, etc). What Obama did is no worse than what Bill Clinton or GWB did, and at least Barack has been honest, unlike the other two.

What is shameful here is the old-style of dirty politics the Clinton campaign is exercising. Obama never even criticized Clinton's statements (which were silly at a minimum, to compare herself to LBJ and insinuate that what MLK did was worthless without the help of a white man) - the criticism came from elsewhere, but as usual the Clinton camp finds it convenient to claim that Obama is being negative. Last I checked, he wasn't looking into Hillary's past to see what she wanted to be in kindergarten...

hmmm... once a user always a user, i mean drugs! i am a lifetime-democrat and if obama gets a democratic nomination i will vote for mccain... or stay home.

first he's a complete jerk, then he absolutely lies about it. are you sure this was Bob Johnson and not Bill Clinton we're talking about? i guess you have to be a liar and a pig to be a Clinton supporter...

Barack Hussein Obama is a cokehead.

Johnson is right. Obama playing the race card is shameful. He's going to lose BIG TIME.

Bob Johnson is a multimedia crack cocaine dealer. He has done more to set back the cause of African Americans than Plessy vs. Ferguson.

He has pimped out Black women by showing the most vile and disgusting imagery of Black women he could get his hands on and he did so that he could get paid.

The idea of this bottom feeder and pimp criticizing anyone and suddenly discovering he was Black is laughable.

I don't care for Obama either, but Bob Johnson is repulsive beyond belief and the fact that Clinton didn't realize she was sitting in a church pulpit with the Black Larry Flint means she is either tone deaf, desperate, or stupid.

Johnson's comments make little sense and his explanation makes even less sense. Why would he talk about Obama's community organizing work in that context? Sorry, but I don't buy it.