BET Founder Bob Johnson. Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television says Barack Obama wouldn't be his party's leading presidential candidate if he was white.
Hillary Clinton supporter Bob Johnson has revived comments previously made by Geraldine Ferraro, telling The Charlotte Observer,
"What I believe Ferraro meant is that if you take a freshman senator from Illinois called 'Jerry Smith' and he says I'm going to run for president, would he start off with 90 percent of the black vote? And the answer is, probably not... Geraldine Ferraro said it right. The problem is, Geraldine Ferraro is white. This campaign has such a hair-trigger on anything racial ... it is almost impossible for anybody to say anything."
Ferraro stepped down last month as an adviser to the Clinton campaign after she said something similar.
Obama's campaign calls the latest remarks "just one in a long line of absurd comments by Johnson and other Clinton supporters who will say or do anything to get the nomination." They say the American people are tired of this kind of politics.
Johnson also says Obama is likely to win the nomination and that he has the support of the "liberal media."
He stirred up controversy earlier in the campaign when he referred to Obama and "what he was doing in the neighborhood." Many took that as a reference to drug use, although Johnson later insisted he was talking about Obama's time as a community organizer.
Here’s my question to you: What is your reaction to BET founder and Clinton supporter Bob Johnson saying Barack Obama wouldn't be where he is if he were white?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
CJ from Texas writes:
It saddens me that people like Mr. Johnson don't have more productive commentary to add to the political process. He has every right to support whichever candidate he chooses. However, I would like to remind him that the only reason the media is even concerned with his comment is because he is an African-American "leader" sharing that sentiment. The comment was inappropriate when Ms. Ferraro said it and it is no less inappropriate from Mr. Johnson.
Mike from Syracuse writes:
Jack, Of course he's right. Obama and Clinton are splitting the traditional Democratic voters right down the middle except for blacks, who have gone overwhelmingly for Obama. How can anyone say that Obama's race isn't a factor in that? Take away the black vote and Obama probably would have won about 2 states. Why is it that anyone who points out this fact is branded racist?
Audrey writes:
It is sad that we are back to race again, thanks to the Clinton supporters such as Bob Johnson and the likes. Let us all concentrate on the issues and ignore the Clinton machine mentality of a win by any means necessary, which is so troubling for this election process. America, do you really want more of the Clintons with all of their baggage? Or do we want a clean slate candidate who can carry this country in a new and decent direction, who is not a career politician?
John from Tennessee writes:
Jack, He is simply telling the truth. If Hillary had done the racist and dirty things he has done, the whole nation would be outraged. But he gets a free pass, especially from you in the news media, because he is black.
John from Chicago writes:
Jack, Does everyone think the black race is somehow hoisting Obama on their collective shoulders alone? What Bob Johnson (and Geraldine Ferraro before him) seem to be missing is the incredibly large number of white people who support Barack Obama. Including me. If Barack's name were Jerry Smith and he were white, I would be voting for Jerry. They just don't get it.