This was bound to happen sooner or later. Cory Booker went on Meet The Press today to express how 'uncomfortable' he was with the Obama Campaign's attacks on Bain and Romney.
“I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity,” Booker added. “If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record, they’ve done a lot to support businesses — to grow businesses. And this to me, I’m very uncomfortable.”
He also stated:
It’s either gonna be a small campaign about this crap, or it’s gonna be a big campaign about the issues the American public cares about.”
Booker's statements come as no real surprise, to anyone who has followed his career. He was initially elected Mayor of Newark, NJ with the strong, though clandestine support of many Republican leaders in New Jersey. The Republicans were eager to dismantle the powerful Democratic political machine of Sharp James, the long-time mayor of Newark prior to Booker.
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Booker lost his first election against James, but defeated him four years later. Booker ran as a Democratic reformer, which was a fair characterization. The Sharp machine was very corrupt. It was one of the last old-time urban Democratic machines in the US. I certainly supported Booker in his election bid, but there was always a nagging feeling that he would let us down one day.
Booker is very tight with Wall street and big money in general. Marc Zuckerberg's first big act of 'charity' was to put up $100 million dollars to reform Newark's school system. This money was used to buy-out teacher contracts. These teachers are unionized, of course, but the Booker Administration decided that Newark had too many teachers - funny how Newark must to the only school district in the country with a glut of teachers. Go figure!
What has bothered me most recently is the you-tube video with the despicable Governor Chris Christie. I think the video is hilarious, but why make a video which humanizes an asshole like Christie.
Booker has been a good Mayor in many ways. I like his hands-on approach to governing. He has shown courage and leadership. However, I am suspicious of his long-term political agenda and his attempt to defend Bain and Romney shows that he is not much of a Democrat - a Blue Dog at best - and we seem to have too many of this stripe to begin with.
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