My My II
In an apparent replay of the Billy Shaheen incident — only worse — Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, said this while campaigning Sunday in South Carolina with Senator Clinton. NYT:
“And to me, 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 since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood -– and I won’t say what he was doing, but he said it in the book -– when they have been involved.”…
“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.”
Of course Mr. Johnson wasn’t referring to Obama’s drug use that he discussed in his first book — how could you think such a thing? Johnson released this statement through the Clinton campaign to “clarify” his remarks: “My comments today were referring to Barack Obama’s time spent as a community organizer, and nothing else. Any other suggestion is simply irresponsible and incorrect.” Yeah, right.
And precisely what image is an audience to conjure from Johnson’s reference to the film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?