It’s so easy to criticize from the outside looking in, but surely Johnson, a very successful businessman who has hired hundreds – or maybe thousands — of black employees, must have some brainy ideas for spurring employment for black people.
Or maybe not.
Years ago, before Johnson sold BET to Viacom, he was roundly criticized for not offering black viewers any educational programming on BET, but instead relied on booty-shaking videos. He was once reportedly quoted as saying: “The “E” in BET stands for entertainment, not education.”
So now, Johnson, the man who wanted no parts of educating black people, is calling out Obama for not doing enough for black people?
Here’s the real deal: Johnson never liked Obama, and that’s ok. He’s entitled to support anyone he wants for president. But it is the way in which Johnson has disrespected Obama that gives me pause. It’s the reason I believe Johnson lacks credibility in this debate.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Johnson raised eyebrows with one of the more perplexing comments of the race by comparing Obama to actor Sidney Poitier.
“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 told reporters.
“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,’” Johnson said.
I’m all for constructive criticism, but there’s absolutely nothing constructive here. I didn’t understand the reference to Sidney Poitier back in 2008, and I still don’t understand it today. Johnson offers bizarre critiques with no solutions, reasonable suggestions or intelligent recommendations.
So what’s the point?
It’s the same old Johnson: He’s still lobbing grenades at the White House from the comfort of his billionaire bunker.
COMMENTARY: Bob Johnson Blasts Obama But Offers No Solutions to Urban Problems was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
