When Cokie Roberts, senior news analyst for NPR and veteran political correspondent, mentions your name in her weekly commentary on Morning Edition, it not only resonates in Washington, DC, but in political camps in every state. “Cory Booker,” referred to as “an Obama surrogate,” had given Gov. Mitt Romney “a boost” according to Roberts, because the Newark mayor called attacking Bain Capital a “mistake.”
Was it also Mayor Booker’s mistake and had he “lost control of the message” as reported by Dan Goldberg in the Newark Star Ledger? The Republican National Committee certainly took control seizing on Booker’s statement to start a petition with an image of “Booker’s stern expression on top of a letter that asks you to stand with Cory Booker and denounce Obama’s attack on free enterprise.” And that was just the beginning of the fallout and the Republican National Committee exploitation of the Bain statement.
Booker’s ‘boost’ for Romney was a broadside for President Barack Obama’s campaign team, throwing them into damage control mode and, according to the Associated Press, it’s also created “a mess” for Cory Booker, who, at first, tried cleaning up his “nauseating” comment which aired on NBC News Meet the Press, with a hurriedly put-together YouTube video both backtracking and justifying his comments.
Perhaps realizing addressing a YouTube audience wasn’t going to quell the growing uproar, Booker, fully focused and in damage control mode, appeared last night on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show expressing his feelings about the Republican Party using him to attack the president.
“I am very upset that I am being used by the GOP this way and it’s, uh, while I thought today I was going to be quiet, I’ve been pushed so far that you are going to hear a lot from me to the extent possible and to the extent that President Obama and his campaign want to hear from me.”
Maddow introduced Booker with a list of Republican surrogates who had gone “off message” recently but none have had to backtrack or caused as much confusion and ridicule as the outspoken Newark mayor who attempted to to explain to Maddow what went wrong during theMeet the Press interview.
“I need to go on and clarify because obviously I did things in the Meet the Pressinterview, as I told you, that did not land the points that I was trying to make and in some ways, you know, frustratingly, I think I conflated the attacks that the Republicans were making with Jeremiah Wright with some of the attacks on the left, and those can’t even be equated.”
Officials in Newark, who knew Cory Booker, before he became a regular headline maker weren’t surprised that the mayor had delivered another controversial statement, but the reaction was mixed about his intentions.
Rahaman Muhammad, president of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union Local 617), bluntly accused the mayor of serving his own interest. “A lot of the things Cory says is for self interest. It’s about his personal ambitions. ” Did it hurt the president? “Of course it’s damaging. Of course it hurt the president. This was Obama’s core struggle against what Mitt Romney is trying to do.” The union leader says it’s a setback. “But we’re going to fight this.”
“He has to open his mind to more things that his personal ambition. I think it’s the first time he’s had his back against the wall. People are starting to check into his background to find out who’s invested in him,” said Muhammad.
Damaging or not, according to Newark councilman Ron C. Rice, Booker’s comments created an opportunity. “I think what it’s done is put the debate front and center before the American people. We have to determine what kind of corporate policy we want.”
His reaction to the Bain campaign ads?
“It’s a legitimate issue for debate. Do we want to go back to eight years ago to valuing profit over job creation, abusing main street and outsourcing jobs? Or do we want a corporate policy that embraces new technology, raising working class to the middle class, grow jobs in America, embrace health care?”
Was Booker making a legitimate point?
“I’m against negative campaigning as he is.” But Rice couldn’t condone Booker bringing up Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Bain Capital. “I think it was apples and oranges to compare the two.”
The currents from this political firestorm not only continue to spread heat well beyond the debate about what constitutes negative campaigning, the media is busy exposing Booker and New Jersey’s deals with private equity firms. Again, they quote Booker’s comments during hisMeet the Press interview.
“I have to say from a very personal level, I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity. It’s to me, we’re getting to a ridiculous point in America. Especially that I know I live in a state where pension funds, unions and other people are investing in companies like Bain Capital. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record, they have done a lot to support businesses to grow businesses and this to me, I’m very comfortable.”
The Associated Press’ Beth Fouhy, was quick to point out that Booker “is eying a run for statewide office in New Jersey, where many bankers and private equity investors live.”
Other media also pounced on the private equity connection, which included Bloomberg who asked the question: “Why would a key Obama supporter break ranks like that?” And gave the answer: “New Jersey has a lot riding on private equity.” And, according to Bloomberg, Booker, as the mayor of a big city has a “deep interest in economic development” through private equity.
But does it go deeper than that for Booker? Perhaps, according to the website Think Progress, which unearthed an even closer connection to the mayor and private equity. They report that Bain and the financial industry gave over $565,00 to Booker’s 2002 campaign for mayor.
The website cites a possible reason for Booker coming to the defense of the private equity firm. “Bain Capital and venture capital were among his earliest and most generous backers.” The website continues, “In all — just in his first mayoral run (2002) — Booker’s committees received more than $565,000 from the people he was defending (on Meet the Press). At least $36,000 of that came from folks at Romney’s old firm.”
Was this siding with Bain a clever Booker tactic? Was Booker paying dues by creating a moment for the “executives in one of the biggest buyout funds to step forward,” which is what Bloomberg News suggests.
Or was it another Booker moment, patiently described to the Newark’s newspaper correspondent, Goldberg, by the chairman of the state Democratic Party, John Wisniewski who said, “he did not believe Booker was trying to undercut his own party, but the mayor failed to grasp the significance of the Bain issue.”
In further defense of Booker, Wisniewski added. “Do I think he was being disloyal? No. I think the mayor misses the point of the [Bain] ad. It’s not about whether private equity is good or bad, it’s how Mitt Romney, at Bain Capital, utilized his position at a private equity firm to choose to create wealth as opposed to jobs. And it is a real issue, when you have the Romney campaign talking about job creation.”
When President Obama weighed in what the AP’s Houhy’s called “the dust-up” his response suggested he was not overly perturbed by Booker’s comments, which lit up all elements of social media. Obama settled for describing Booker as an “outstanding mayor” while insisting he [Obama] would continue to talk about Romney’s experience at Bain Capital. “It’s important,” Obama added, “to recognize this issue is not a distraction. It’s part of the debate we are having in this election.”
Bloomberg claims Booker has a million man-and-woman following on Twitter. The website,www.policymic.com is unequivocally promoting him as the man to run for president in 2016, calling him the “sky rocketing star,” And more. Booker, they laud, is “Ivy League, a Rhodes Scholar, All American football player” and “not only did he recently rescue his elderly neighbor from a fiery inferno, but he also aides his local police department by personally patrolling the streets of Newark at night.” And it’s pointed out that, “[Booker] also showed real political guts when he took on the local Democratic establishment.”
What Booker decides to do next or take on next will continue to fascinate political pundits and politicians far beyond Newark and New Jersey. He’s attracted the attention and interest to the international media as well. To keep up with Cory Booker, those waiting for his next move will have to monitor every mainstream and social media site while keeping in mind that, at the end of the day, the man is not afraid of fires of any kind.