Now that Hillary Clinton has finally acknowledged that she lost to
Barack Obama, it appears that the only person still unaware of that is
Bob Johnson. After embarrassing himself in South Carolina, Johnson is
acting like the loser is supposed to determine the makeup of the
presidential ticket. Consequently, he is leading a campaign to pressure
Obama to pick Clinton as his Democratic running mate. Like
before, Johnson is fighting a losing battle. Just as Clinton didn’t
want anyone to push her out of the race, even after it became clear
that she had no mathematical chance of overtaking the front-runner,
Obama will not allow Johnson or anyone else force him to place Clinton
on the ticket. Would Bob Johnson, Charlie Rangel, Maxine Waters,
Mary Frances Berry and other Black Hillary supporters be pushing as
hard for the addition of Obama to the ticket if Clinton had defeated
Obama? I doubt it. They are among the last African-Americans in the
country still mesmerized by the Clintons. In Johnson’s case, I
somewhat understand his attachment to the Clintons. As editor of Emerge
magazine, which was owned by BET, I had a chance to attend social
functions in Bob’s home that were attended by the president. As a big
time Democratic fundraiser, Bob exercised considerable clout, making
sure that President Clinton and other newsmakers did not slight BET
when they were dolling out exclusive interviews. But his supporting Hillary to the end – some say, after the end – will contribute to his mixed legacy. Let
me say upfront that during my seven years as editor of Emerge, I could
not have asked for a more supportive boss. Bob Johnson not only
supported me when we published covers that were admittedly over the
edge, he actively encouraged me to stir up controversy. Not once in
seven years did he ever ask me to tone down our coverage. And he gave
me the financial resources to put out a magazine that won more than 40
national journalism awards. In 38 years of journalism, being editor of
Emerge was by far the most exciting and fulfilling years of my career. When
I was at Emerge, I was also a regular panelist on “Lead Story,” the
Sunday morning roundtable of reporters hosted by Ed Gordon and later,
Cheryl Martin. It, too, was unique. In addition to “Lead Story,” there
was “Teen Summit” and ‘BET News.” In fact, BET carried more
Black-oriented public affairs programs than all of the other cable
channels combined. What most people don’t know about Bob Johnson
is that he closed his company on the day of the Million Man March and
took out a full-page ad in USA Today expressing his support for the
march called by Minister Louis Farrakhan. He attended the march and had
Ed Gordon doing special reports throughout the day. Name one other
major business, Black or White, that offered a paid holiday to its
employees so that they could attend the Million Man March? I can’t
think of one. Bob never gets enough credit for the positive
things he has done. That’s largely because the good deeds were
overshadowed by the rump-shaking, degrading videos that ran and
continue to run on BET. They were so vile that Bob Johnson didn’t allow
his kids to watch them. Even before he became a billionaire by selling
BET to Viacom, every public affairs program, including “Lead Story,”
was taken off the air. A group of BET magazines, including
Emerge, were sold to Keith Clinkscales in preparation for the Viacom
sale. Within several years, they were dead or in bankruptcy court.
That, too, will remain a part of the Johnson and Clinkscales legacy. Given
Bob’s unequivocal support for Emerge and the Million Man March, it was
not unreasonable to expect him to support Obama. But like too many
Black leaders, he was already wedded to the Clintons. Campaigning
in South Carolina, Johnson said the Clintons “…have been deeply and
emotionally involved in black issues when Barack Obama was doing
something in the neighborhood that – and I won’t say what he was doing,
but he said it in his book – when they have been involved.” After
strongly denying that he was referring to Obama’s experimentation with
drugs as a youth, Johnson finally ‘fessed up and apologized to Obama. In
contrast to standing tall at the Million Man March, Bob Johnson is on
the wrong side of history. And even as Obama continues to make history,
Johnson is still trying to foist Clinton off on the history maker. When
it comes to Hillary Clinton, African-Americans didn’t listen to Bob
Johnson in South Carolina and there’s no need to listen to him now.
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