Robert L. Johnson, the nation's first black billionaire and founder of the BET cable television network, attacked the Barack Obama campaign and its response to Sen. Hillary Clinton's comments regarding President Lyndon B. Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr.
Johnson, affectionately known as Bob, said Obama's campaign had acted dishonestly and had distorted Clinton's remarks about Dr. King.
Johnson, the owner of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, also hinted at Obama's youthful drug use, something that Obama discussed openly in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father." Johnson later said that was not the case.
Obama wrote that he occassionally used marijuana, cocaine and drank liquor.
Last week, Sen. Clinton said that King's dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Some black leaders have criticized that remark as suggesting Johnson deserved more credit than the slain civil rights leader for the passage and enactment of major civil rights legislation.
While introducing Sen. Clinton at Columbia College on Sunday, Johnson criticized the Obama campaign.
"To me, as an African American, I am frankly insulted 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; I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book — when they have been involved," Johnson said.
"For someone who decries the politics of personal destruction, she should've immediately denounced these attacks on the spot," said "I.S." Leevy Johnson, a former South Carolina state legislator and Obama supporter, in a statement issued by Obama's campaign.
Clinton nor Obama made any comments about Bob Johnson's statements.
