DAVENPORT, Iowa — Magic Johnson doesn’t trust rookies to win a basketball game, much less lead the nation.
“You don’t want somebody in there that is young or a rookie at politics,” Johnson said Tuesday at a raucous rally in support of presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. “We want somebody in there that knows what they’re doing because this job is so huge.”
Johnson, a former star with the Los Angeles Lakers, joined former President Clinton to promote the New York senator’s campaign. Implicit in Johnson’s comments was the suggestion that Hillary Clinton had more experience than rivals Barack Obama, who has served in the U.S. Senate since January 2005, and John Edwards, who spent one term as a senator.
Johnson didn’t mention that he won his first championship with the Lakers as a rookie and was named most valuable player in the NBA finals that year.
Speaking in a packed high school gymnasium, Johnson kept up the comparisons between basketball and politics.
“The more I practiced the better I became,” said Johnson, who won five NBA championships with the Lakers. “That’s why I support Sen. Clinton, because she is the only one with 30 years of experience.”
Johnson said he has been good friends with the Clintons since they were in the White House and advised him on how to bring economic development — such as stores and movie theaters — to impoverished neighborhoods across the country.
